Contingency
by Pathomania
Summary: Reeve is a Dauntless initiate from Erudite, a girl with a stern gaze and uncaring eyes who likes to punch people in the throat. She doesn't react to people mocking her, or even Eric glaring at her from across the room, which makes him angry. Figuring that once he's bored he'll leave her alone. By accident he finds her weakness, after that there's no way she's getting rid of him.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello, hello! My name is Patho, recently Bork and Beans.  
><strong>**It had been a while since I started a new story, or have even written a chapter for one of my existing stories, that's what school does to you apparently. Sucks up all your creativity and motivation like an evil, demented sponge.**

**Anyway, I watched Divergent and really wanted to write a ff with Eric, which is what this is, as it should be obvious. I'm currently reading the book and trying to use as much time with Eric as possible, so if something is off from the movie, it's from the book.**

**I do not own any of divergent, disclaimers, disclaimers, only my characters do I own. Forewarning, I don't really like editing, so if you see something obnoxious, please tell me so I can fix it, I'll probably find it eventually and cry.  
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**Now that the term is over I hope to be writing a lot more, not just this story, but all of the others I have, so if you want this one updated the most tell me with reviews. Whichever story gets the most reviews per chapter gets the most attention, that's how it works for me.**

**Here's chapter, hope you enjoy!  
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**Chapter One**

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"You're going to leave us aren't you Sam?" A voice broke the red haired woman from her thoughts.

It had happened just earlier in the day that Samantha had taken the aptitude test that was supposed to tell her what to do at the choosing ceremony. The test had been a rush of excitement and nerves for Sam, though she may have been one f the only students to ask not to be told what the conclusion was. She didn't want to know that the test would end up just like her older brother's had, Erudite, the same faction she had grown up in. The faction that her older brother decided to stay in, where her parents had both been from, and where some of her younger siblings were excited to reside.

There was a taste for knowledge; a thirst for knowing what others did not, something that was vital for a Erudite if not vaguely important. But she didn't care for all the talk about other factions or the accusation that everyone seemed to be throwing around. People? Who wanted to talk to people? Books didn't frown at her, gave her valid information, and left her alone when she didn't really want to talk to anyone. There were good things that came from living in Erudite, all the information they had stockpiled helped her accomplish many things she wouldn't have had the chance to do in other factions.

She was ready to leave. To be someone else in a different place, she was itching for a change even if it meant leaving the rest of her family behind. Her parents had never really understood her much, nor had her siblings cared to associate with someone who was content with being left alone. It was only her youngest sister whom she didn't want to leave by herself; Elaine was too kind hearted to be in Erudite. Sam had always urged her to be in Abnegation or Amity.

"Yeah," she finally replied with a sigh.

Not yet had she made up her mind, did she want to go to Candor where people told the truth all the time? Probably not, lying was one of the things she was good at and there was no way she would ever learn to speak her mind. She wasn't selfless like Abnegation, or carefree like Amity, though if it really came down to it wouldn't be hard to fake it and fit in. Erudite was a place she never wanted to be back in, or see again, there was a reason she wanted to leave.

"I know you're not supposed to, but will you tell me what your aptitude test said?" The younger auburn haired girl asked of her sister.

"I might've told you if I knew myself," Sam laughed shortly.

"They're supposed to tell you," Elaine exclaimed with an aghast expression. It was the very thing that kept most kids going, hearing the answer to the very question they had been asking themselves for years on end. What's going to happen? Where will I go?

"I didn't want them to hear them say Erudite," she replied icily. Her sister was a little taken aback, Sam was always aloof and indifferent about things, but Elaine could tell that her sister was edgy the past few weeks that she was coming home. She looked restless.

"They wouldn't have," Elaine stated firmly. There was no way the test would have said Erudite, not for someone who was impetuous, abrasive, and otherwise absolutely irritating when it came to having a conversation. She was too stubborn and got angry too quickly, Elaine knew exactly where her sister deserved to be, and it was just a matter of whether or not she would figure it out before standing in front of those bowls. "If you go to Amity I'm sure Lou would welcome you happily," she offered thinking of the choosing ceremony the year before. Their older sister had shocked everyone in the family by choosing the peaceful faction over the one she had lived in her whole life. Leaving her brothers and sisters behind in order to gain harmony away from all the rules and regulations that was Erudite. Sam didn't blame her, not when Collin was already setting such a good example by staying with the family. the suck up was their parents greatest joy in life.

Sam hated him, he'd been pressuring her to stay in Erudite ever since Lou had left, and Elaine had heard many a threat on his life while he slept.

"I can't stay here," she muttered.

"I know," her sister whispered before walking towards the door. "Try to get some sleep before tomorrow okay?" She mused knowing full well that Sam would be reading until she dropped the book on her face.

"Goodnight brat," Sam smirked as her sister closed the door.

"Freak," was the response she got from the other side of the door.

With a grin Sam went back to reading, the only thing she would miss was all the books and endless amounts of information on the computer screens. Where ever she ended up, this might be the last book she read, the last bit of information she picked up from reading.

-0-0-

Everything had been okay, the bus ride to the Hub, watching all the other factions' line up, seeing Dauntless run in, Abnegation give up their elevator ride. Just like it had been every year prior, Sam sat down with her parents at the end of the aisle so it would be easier to walk out when her name was called. She'd said her goodbyes at home already; Elaine had sniffled while Collin looked smug with himself, confident that she would be returning that night.

It was only now that they started calling out a bunch of names that Sam began to get a little anxious, it was a big decision that would ultimately tear her away from her parents and everything she had known up until then. But she had known this, so it wasn't as surprising as it was terror inducing, feelings she had scarce felt and actually made her feel more alive than ever. It was her choice. She had all the power at that moment.

Vaguely she paid attention to an Abnegation boy who caused quite the uproar by choosing Erudite, only to be followed his sister who chose Dauntless. Glancing at the shocked faces of everyone in the grey clothed faction Sam could imagine how the parents must feel after watching their parents leave them behind. For Sam it didn't matter, even if she left there were still three more kids at home, waiting to be melded and manipulated by her eager parents.

Faction before blood is what they always said, and Sam was going to take it just as seriously as they said it every year.

"Samantha Benks," the voice called out to her. Feeling her heart leap into her throat Sam let her eyes harden as she passed her icy parents who were certain of what she would choose. This was the daughter that spent all day reading and absorbing information, there was no reason for her to choose anything but Erudite. Yet they'd just watched a few of her fellow classmates tear away from the faction, of course Myra followed Edward, and she was like a lap dog to him.

Just a couple people before her one of their neighbors had chosen to stay in Erudite and been welcomed back to the blue clothed section with open and grinning arms. Sam's stomach had churned at the beaming smile that her mother had flashed in her direction; it made her wonder what sort of expression she would make once Sam was gone.

Making her way up to the front Sam caught the reflection on the knife as she picked it up slowly, her eyes flashing towards the bowl filled with water before completely disregarding it. She could see the bewildered look on her parents face as she so easily turned away from her family; of course they were going to be shocked. The packed earth filled bowl looked slightly inviting as she imagined her sisters smiling face when she showed up with the other initiates. But the thought of forever wandering the fields outside the wall seemed dull to her and her eyes shifted away from another bowl, and then another as glass was overlooked.

There was the warmth of coals and emptiness of stones in front of her now, immediately she knew that if she was going to live at least ten more years, she wanted it to be worth living. Quickly she slashed the knife across the palm of her hand, cutting just deep enough for blood to collect between her fingers before a drop fell away from it.

There was a sizzle and then a roar of applause from one section of the room.

"Dauntless," the voice called out to her again.

She turned around with a grin on her face to look at her mother and father before turning towards her new faction. Her blue pants and blouse was mismatched amongst all the darker colors around her but soon that would change as well. Someone cleared a spot for her to sit down while a few people clapped her on the back; this was what she had wanted. To feel the rush of excitement she had only ever felt alone with her studies, the anxiety and nervousness that came with not knowing what was going to happen next was something she craved.

She was Dauntless now.

At the end of the ceremony they started pushing each other towards the doors in order to get outside into the fresh air. The feeling of being free from all the rules and strictness that was Erudite felt amazing for Sam as they began to run down the street before stopping just below the train tracks. The other transfers seemed to group together slightly, wondering what they should be doing or if they were doing anything wrong. By now it was just the adrenaline in her veins that was taking over for Sam, catching a dauntless born scaling up the side of a metal leg she rushed behind him to follow. Her cut palm grating against the rough metal with minimal pain that seemed to wake her up all the more. She'd never been free to do this, to explore the streets and run rampant through them while screaming at everyone to get out of the way. Never before had she felt more alive than she did now, pulling herself pathetically up a rusty metal leg of the train tracks. Pulling herself up around the same time as the Abnegation girl Sam followed the crown to the other side of the tracks and followed their stature as they got ready to run again.

By now she was panting, big heavy breaths that filled her lungs completely before puffing everything out in order to peat the process over and over again. Quick feet brought black jacket past her as Sam turned to see the train coming, if everyone else was running it meant that the vehicle probably wasn't going to stop to let them on. She hissed at the thought of tripping under the tracks and having her body crunched and torn to pieces from the thundering beast whipping past her, it'd take a while to clean up. Breaking herself out of her thoughts Sam reached for a bar as it ripped past her, the cut on her hand protested again but she ignored it and pulled herself into the train car. Sitting back against the cool metal before standing to watch the stragglers pull up into it as well, the Abnegation girl seemed to be the last one to make it.

She pulled herself in and landed next to a girl from Candor, they grinned at each other and Sam almost wanted to frown at them, it was always so easy for everyone else to make friends but she was the awkward one. She listened to them mutely as Abnegation introduced herself as Beatrice while Candor was Christina.

"Is it just me or are they trying to kill us?" Christina said with a shaky laugh.

"That would be a little counterproductive, wouldn't it?" Sam piped in without meaning to. She's gotten used to shooting down all her older brothers comments when he was trying to be smart or persuasive. Instead of looking away from the girls she kept her gaze, a small smile on the edge of her lips.

"It really would," the Candor said with a grin. "I'm Christina," she repeated while Sam nodded at her briefly.

"Sam," was her reply before gazing out at the city passing by them. She'd never been one for small talk because no one had ever asked her for anything other than the correct answer.

All the buildings passing by them were different, as if each one had had a different identity at one point during their standing, faintly she heard a woman tell them to get ready before people started to jump from the train. Just a little further down the car there was Will talking to a Candor while Sam stared out the open door, at least if she fell the fall would kill her. With that thought she pushed past the remaining Dauntless in the car and jumped for the gravel in front of her.

She remembered to keep her knees bent unless she wanted to face plant with ferocity, but still she tumbled to a stop that made her knees ache. Christina and Beatrice jumped quickly before the train passed by the building completely. There was a scream behind them that made a few people turns their heads, Sam leaned back over the side of the building to see a crumpled body on the ground below them. She could tell just by looking that the girl had broken her arms and probably her neck, which meant she was dead, or she hoped that she was. How awful it would be to be broken on the ground, still conscious with immeasurable pain eating away at their insides, she hoped the girl was dead. If not she was sure internal bleeding would kill her eventually.

"All right listen up," someone called out to everyone on the roof. It made them turn their heads away from the girl on the ground and start walking towards the other end of the space around them. Sam took a few last glances towards the girl and at the sobbing one on the roof before following behind Will, now that he didn't know what was going to happen next he appeared a lot less smug. "I'm Eric, I'm one of your leaders," he stood on stop of the border around the building, looking very much at home. "If you want to enter Dauntless, this is the way in. And if you don't have the guts to jump, then you don't belong in Dauntless," he finished before Sam could hear a few transfers gasping.

"Is there water at the bottom or something?" Will asked. It was a good question, but otherwise unneeded in Sam's mind. They wouldn't go to the choosing ceremony and lead them all the way here to let them jump to their death; it was just like what she had told the two girls on the train. It would be counterproductive.

"I guess you'll find out," Eric seemed bored with the whole thing. As if he was annoyed by even having to deal with the fresh meant that was transfers, he probably thought it was a waste of time. "Or not, he added at the end. There was small whispering amongst the group before he spoke again, looking around at everyone disinterested. "Someone's gotta go first. Who's it gonna be?" He looked around at everyone again, eyeing the Dauntless initiates who glanced this way and that. If anything Sam would've thought they would be eager to prove that they belonged her, yet they stayed silent. Sam started to walk towards the edge until the Abnegation girl spoke up.

"Me," she said. The people in front of her parted in order to let her walk up to the front. Her expression faltered as Eric stared her down as she got to the end. Shucking off her jacket while a few people jeered at her, using the name stiff in response to the recent news about her old faction. Sam had never cared for name calling, it was childish, everyone was pointing fingers and avoiding the blame, it was better to just stay out of it.

"Today initiate," Eric said dully when she stalled before stepping off abruptly. Eric and a few others looked over towards the bottom to see where she had gone before the leader turned to look at everyone else.

"My turn," a Dauntless initiate said before pushing past everyone forcefully. He stopped and looked over the side for a few moments as if regretting his so eager approach.

"Getting cold feet?" Eric chuckled before his expression hardened again. The guy turned around with a sneer before throwing himself over with a yell that could be heard all way down, fading out slightly the farther he fell. Again some of them looked to see if he had landed okay or whatever happened at the bottom before Eric again turned around, the ever present bland expression on his face. "Well," he glanced at everyone. "Who's next?"

"I'll go," Sam spoke up before catching eyes with the young leader. They held each other's gaze briefly before he moved slightly towards the left as if to allow her to pass. Her expression didn't change as she walked up to him and stopped for a moment, frowning ever so slightly before pulling her eyes away from his. They were blue, reminding her of her younger sister who had the clearest of blue eyes that made Reeve jealous, if only hers had been that normal.

Taking slow steps onto the wall before stepping off into empty air, her eyes looked frantically all around her, as if she would miss something when she closed her eyes. It reminded her on all the times she'd been leaning back on a chair and started to fall, or when she used to go exploring as a child, thrilling. Before she could even guess what was actually waiting for her at the bottom a net welcomed her into its embrace. She stayed there for a few moments, staring up at the sky with a grin on her face, wondering if they might let her do that again. Then someone was pulling her towards the other side of the net where it met the ground and pulling her onto the solid surface.

"Name? You can pick a new one if you like," a tall stony faced man spoke to her shortly. Apparently he was used to doing this. Sam opened her mouth to say Samantha, but that wasn't who she was anymore, and she really didn't want the name that Erudite had given her.

"Reeve," she said breathlessly. He nodded at her before turning to look at someone behind her.

"Third jumper, Reeve," he shouted before turning back to look at her, staring a little bit longer at her eyes. "Welcome to Dauntless," he said before turning her towards where the Abnegation girl was already standing. Someone had already written their names down on a board, Tris and Reeve, the other jumper had been placed on a different board.

Peering around the room Reeve watched as the man took a few steps away from the net and waited for the next jumper to come into the room. His posture reminded her of how someone looked after receiving some sort of adulation, straight back, chest out, and a strong stance. Although his looked more robotic, as if it had been drilled into him early on.

"So Reeve," Tris spoke as if testing out the new name on her lips. The old Erudite looked over at the girl with a smirk, the name sounded much better than Samantha ever had. The name felt too plain to her, careful and cautious, completely unlike how she was as a person, and it would've suited her older sister much better. Tris looked away from Reeve for a moment before getting caught in the red haired girls stare; she couldn't decide which eye to look at. The left one that was green or the right one that was a darker grey color, both of them contrasted starkly with her hair and left Tris confused about what to look at. "I didn't notice," she stopped short before catching her words. "Your eyes," her comment made Reeve grin.

It was something that always gained her much more attention than she ever wanted, the fact that her eyes were two different colors. She'd even gotten teased as a child by the older kids who liked to call her freak and chase her home after school, only to be scared away by her older brother Clive who waited outside for her to get home. She learned to ignore such comments very early on in her life, this was who she was and she couldn't change it.

"Weird right?" Reeve muttered ruffling her long hair. By now it was in tangles and she wanted to growl at much she just wanted to chop it off. Tris didn't know which color to focus on and instead turned away from the girl, noticing that she was around the same height as Reeve, if not a tiny bit taller.

Instead of talking more they watched the rest of the initiates fall into the net, most of the transfers screamed along with a handful of the Dauntless born. Reeve had never been fond of menial chit chat with other people, it was just an excuse for her to practice her smile and pretend she was listening; it was handy when speaking to her mother. Though she much rather preferred to immerse herself in studying other people, finding the twitch in their lips when they lied, or a small exhale proving they were nervous. It intrigued her that people were so easy to figure out after such a short time of looking at them, if she asked the right questions and watched them stumble, she'd have all the answers she needed.

Finally after everyone had jumped the man who pulled them off the net shouted at them to gather before introducing himself as Four. Christina responded with a dull question that made some of the other kids laugh, but Reeve wasn't paying attention as her eyes glanced around the area around them. It didn't hurt to memorize the place she was going to be living in for the rest of her life, probably would even help her in the long run.

Just before turning to look back at Four, who was taking slow steps towards Christina, she caught sight of the leader from the rooftop, Eric. He was speaking to a few other members before turning to walk away until he glanced in her direction and saw her following his form. She stared at him blandly, trying to figure out what the tattoos on his neck might mean, she'd read that each person got them for a different reason, if not to overcome a fear. She didn't even notice he was staring back at her, only when the other initiates began to follow Four through a hallway did she look at his face to hold his gaze. His eyes were dark, as if he was trying to scare her away with just his expression, but Reeve was used to the look. She'd gotten and given it to her family many times. Quirking her mouth at him slightly she turned on her heel to follow the rest of the teenagers in front of her.

A few years ago she might have been frightened of the intimidating man, scared to even walk up next to him much less speak to him. But all Reeve saw was her brother when she looked at him, a bully who would do nothing to her if she didn't react, because eventually everyone got boring, and then the bully would leave them alone.

They'd already been split from the Dauntless born without Reeve noticing and were going towards what Four had called the Pit. Gazing around at all the catacombs and hideaway's in the rock Reeve wonders if she'll ever have time to explore them or if she'll even make it that far at all. There are people fighting at the bottom, others clustered around as if it's an event for everyone to watch and speculate, she'd known that there would be violence. Further he led them into a room lined with cots, and sinks near the far wall.

"You're gonna be sleeping here for the next 10 weeks," he says before walking past the cots. A Candor boy looks around before speaking briefly.

"Girls or boys?"

"Both," he replies. His answer earned some sighs, gasps, and whistles as everyone takes in the information. "If you like this you're gonna love the bathroom," he shows them to the back of the room. Toilets lined up against a wall, Reeve figured the only way she could use it with any sort of privacy would be to wear her jacket on her lap while she did her business. "Get changed," was the last thing Four said before exiting the room.

"Sam," a voice called out her old name. Reeve turned to see Christina and Tris next to two cots with clothes on them, a third with additional clothing that they were saving for her.

"It's Reeve now," she said before stopping to look down at the dark material beneath her.

"Sounds cooler anyway," the dark skinned girl laughed. As they changed a few of the guys jeered at Tris, Reeve glared at them coldly, how very mature of them.

When everyone was changed they were led towards a fire pit where they were told to toss their old clothes into the flames, Reeve was more than happy to do so. If she never have to wear blue clothes again she would be very happy. Afterwards they were taken to the cafeteria, where all the other members got to stare them down while they looked for seating, which ended up being next to Four. Reeve ended up in between Tris and Christina with a boy from her old faction in front of them, she liked to think her name was Will, maybe.

Hesitant to take the food Tris prodded the hamburger in front of her while everyone else loaded their plates with food, Christina spoke past Reeve in order to ask Tris if she'd ever seen a hamburger before, it got the conversation flowing. Sparking responses from the two guys on the other side of the table, Will maybe, and some of teen.

"Which textbook did you swallow?" Christina asks Will maybe, making the other boy laugh.

"Nice to meet you, too. I'm Will, Erudite," he said with a smile. This made Reeve nod slightly, she'd gotten his name right, surprisingly, she'd never been all that good with remembering names of people.

"Of course you are," was Christina's response.

"Same faction as Samantha," he motioned over to the red haired girl. She looked up at him blandly; he'd never really spoken to her before, or even cared what she had been doing, although that may have been her fault.

"It's Reeve now," she muttered before taking another bite of food.

"No offense, but I'm surprised Abnegation even eats at all," Christina gets the conversation flowing again. "Too selfish, right? No wonder you left."

She listened faintly to the rest of the conversation, not participating, but also not ignoring, she'd found out, thanks to Christina, that the other boys name was Al.

"I don't want to hear about your old Factions," Four breaks up the conversation making Reeve turn to him. "You're Dauntless now." It was true, they had no place to talk about it anymore, which Reeve was grateful for, the faster she left that faction behind, the less she would ever have to speak of it again. She ignored the rest of what was exchanged between Tris and Four, only hearing the small scoff of Christina next to her.

"You know, he was first in his class. They tried to recruit him for leadership twice, but he said no," Will murmurs in front of them softly.

Suddenly everyone around them started thrumming the table and tapping their metal cups, so violently that water began to spill and quake with the movement, only stopping when a voice could be heard over the noise.

"Initiates, stand," it commanded. Reeve looked up until she saw a dark skinned man leaning over a railing above them; he must've been the leader or something to have that kind of power to silence a room. Christine, Tris, Will, and Al stood up before glancing at her, she stood up as well. "You have chosen to join the warrior faction, tasked with the defense of this city and all its inhabitants. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery and the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. Respect that. Do us Proud." He finishes abruptly before walking away; Reeve watched his form until it could no longer be seen against the railing when everyone started cheering.

Then there were people picking her up along with Tris and the other initiates, hands touching her everywhere in order to keep her body in the air. She tried to smile like the other girls she was becoming friends with, faking it like she had always done, because if there was one thing she hated. It was being touched.

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><p><strong>AN: I apologize if I don't get everything exactly correct, and maybe you hate my main character, oh well. Also I hate writing in first person, so this story will obviously be in third person which is what I am good at.<strong>

**Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought, there will be more Eric in the next chapter, first one is just to establish everything, pick a new name, all that jazz.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hi! I am very bored! that means more chapters!  
><strong>**I just finished all of my finals yesterday, so I have nothing to do with my free time but write ff's, but there's nothing wrong with that.**

*** Thank you to everyone who reviewed, as promised, next chapter has gotten all of my attention. I'm sorry if my character development is slow, I promise she unravels more as the story progresses, and as she interacts with Eric more. You'll get to know her more when he get's to know her more, isn't that great?**

**I hate**** editing.**** Which means I didn't edit this, I read through it very briefly and fixed obvious repetitive words and small errors, but otherwise I'm sorry. I don't like reading something I've just written, it bores me. If there are any obnoxious errors tell me, and I will fix them. I will read this eventually and cry at my poor grammatical skills, but for now I just want to upload it. **

**Anyway, enjoy my boredom in the form of a new chapter!**

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**Chapter Two**

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What woke Reeve up was a sharp clanging sound that reverberated off the concrete walls of their shared living area. Her eyes opened immediately and she pulled herself into a sitting position before the lights turned on as well, she let her cold gaze find Four's figure by the stairs as he gazed around at all of the transfers. His eyes found hers before shifting on to the next person as everyone sat up in the abrupt way that they had been woken.

"I want everyone in the Pit," he said sternly. "Two minutes."

They all grumbled before shifting to get up in a timely manner, Reeve pulled off her covers quickly, shivering at the cold air that greeted her body with goose bumps. Christina and Tris were tired and sluggish next to her as she pulled her long flaming hair into a ponytail and forced her arms into her jacket.

"Hopefully it's not like this every morning," Christina tried to get a grin out of them. Tris complied with a weak smile while Reeve choked back her own remark, knowing that it would most likely be like this every morning if they wanted to stay here.

She was the first to climb the stairs towards the Pit with Peter, Will, Al, and the others following behind, as if they would let a girl show them up. When they got to where Four was standing Reeve couldn't help but notice that Eric, the leader from the roof, was there as well. His hardened blue eyes stared them down as if they were mere insects that needed to be squashed and dealt with, a demeaning gaze. He looked at her suddenly, catching her stare while she tried to figure out why all the leaders seemed so stiff. She held his gaze just as she had done the day before, if she showed weakness she was sure he would pounce.

"There are two stages in training," Four started. Reeve turned her head towards the other Dauntless without turning her eyes at first, she did this slowly, to show the leader in front of her that she wasn't intimidated no matter how much he glared. "The first is physical, push your bodies to the breaking point you'll master the methods of combat. The second is mental, again breaking point; you'll face your worst fears and conquer them, unless they get you first. "You'll be trained separately from the Dauntless born but you'll be ranked together," he explained while pointing at another group of initiates who looked more than at home.

It made Reeve's mind wander away from what Four had just said, eventually, would she also be able to hang out in the Pit and talk as freely as them?

"After initiation rankings will determine what jobs you move into. Leadership, guarding the fence, or keeping the factionless from killing each other," while he spoke Four walked back and forth in front of them. He tried to look everyone in the eyes at least once in order to make sure they were paying attention.

"The rankings will also determine who gets cut," a new voice spoke. Reeve's eyes darted to look towards the source to find that it was Eric; he turned towards the group slowly, his cold eyes stopping on her form.

His words were harsh and made Tris stiffen next to Reeve; she glanced over at Christina with a questioning look on her face. Beside her Reeve didn't look away from the man who seemed to smirk at them while they silently panicked in their minds, though he'd expected more of a reaction out of the red haired girl in front of him. She'd stared at him indifferently he day before and didn't seem to care that he was a leader who could take her down at any moment, so far he didn't like this initiate because she didn't react.

"Cut?" Christina asked.

"At the end of each stage of training the lowest ranking initiates will be leaving us," Eric went on. As he was speaking he got up slowly and walked towards them, his gaze shifted away from Reeve for a moment before settling on her again when he was closer. The piercing above his eyebrow made his eyes appear darker as he stalked towards them; certainly he fit in with the other Dauntless, what with the flashy appearance.

"To do what?" Al questioned making Eric look at him with a sigh.

"There's no going home to your families so you'll live factionless," he said in the same deep and bored voice.

Even if she could go back to her family there was no way Reeve would be able to stand going home to Collin, if she failed and wound up back in that house. There would be nothing she could say to get that man off her back and out of her mind, the brother she used to play with and push down hills. He didn't exist anymore, and she'd stopped being afraid of him a long time ago. Just like the man in front of her who thought he could scare them all away, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Why didn't we know that?" Will asks with a shaky voice.

"It's a new rule," Eric replies.

"A new rule? Somebody should have told us that," Christina said in an accusing tone.

"Why? Would you have chosen differently?" Eric's voice overlapped hers near the end. "Out of fear, and if that's the case you might as well get out now. If you're really one of us it won't matter to you that you might fail. You chose us, now we get to choose you," he finished before glancing down at Reeve.

She could feel the confusion and anger from the rest of the initiates behind her, but she simply cast her eyes across the room. Staring at a small cave in the wall that she imagined herself exploring one day, as long as she ignored everything else and fought her way through this the best she knew how, she'd have a chance.

-o-o-

They started off with running, something Reeve had loved as a child before her parents started to crack down on how inappropriate it was. She was fast, but only for a short amount of time before her stamina ran out and she fell to the back, her legs heavy with exhaustion that she ignored. A couple other initiates were slow as well, falling to the back of the group with her before sneering and picking up the pace even as their breath became ragged. When they finally stopped Reeve showed Tris, Christina, Al and Will how to hold their hands on their head in order to open up their lungs so they could breathe better and relax. It was something she had read in a book a long time ago, useless information she thought she would never need.

Four showed them a fight between him and another Dauntless member, he was ruthless and held nothing back against the other man. Tris turned away and averted her eyes, after being in Abnegation for so long it was probably hard for her to watch someone beat another person down. Reeve was watching Four's feet as he moved, trying to figure out when he threw his punch in order to get the most power behind it. She knew to aim for the throat, because if her opponent couldn't breathe they also wouldn't be able to fight. Before Collin decided to stay in Erudite and make her life a living hell she'd considered becoming a doctor if she were to stay, she knew how to hurt someone if she really needed to.

There was the firing range where they shot orange busts from a distance on the roof, peppering the bright color with black spots as bullets hit their target or whizzed by. Reeve was bad at first, she and Tris grinned at each other when they continued to miss, but instead of getting frustrated she relaxed into the shot and moved with the recoil, hitting the target in the chest finally. She tried to explain to Tris how she had finally accomplished it but Will had already made a smart remark that deflated the girls confidence.

It was hard to keep up during the constant strain of their bodies, waking every morning with sore muscles that cried out in pain whenever they moved to the cafeteria to get sustenance. Reeve started stretching in order to let them breathe in the morning wondering if it would hurt less if she did so. She was really starting to get tired of her hair, always in her face, her bangs pulling out of the ponytail made her growl in irritation.

Will had gotten into the habit of asking her how she was doing that morning and if she'd slept well, she didn't know what he was trying to pull but she wouldn't fall for it. Why would he care if she had gotten a good night's rest or not? They were fighting for the same spots on the ranking board, he shouldn't be able to be friendly until after initiation.

Only once had she run into Eric now that it was Four exclusively that was taking care of their training, they'd passed each other when she was on her way back from the cafeteria with Will. He was muttering something about how if she were to listen to him more she could shoot better and she was ignoring him like she always did. The leader walked right in between them, bumping both of their shoulders before turning to glare at the initiates darkly, Reeve held a cold gaze on her face as well.

"Sorry," Will muttered next to Reeve. It was the power that Eric had over them that made the other initiate crumble, he was a leader and they were lowly transfers, but Reeve didn't care. This was how people like him worked; they were commanding and didn't care if they were wrong as long as they won.

"Are you mute?" Eric pushed looking down at the small girl beneath him. He hated the way her expression didn't change when she spoke and wanted to throw her against the rocky wall behind them.

"My apologies for walking," she'd muttered before the man sneered and walked off.

It hadn't been a cheerful nor memorable meeting for Reeve, but for Eric it was enraging. He'd just wanted to get a reaction out of the girl, watching her from afar to see that she didn't show weakness was irritating. Her calm green and grey eyes looking up at him so disinterested made his blood boil. There should have been fear or some sort of remorse there for even coming into contact with him, but she didn't seem to care at all, the only question he didn't seem to ask himself was, why did he care?

"First jumper," Reeve recognized the deep voice of Eric before even looking at him. They were in pairs, practicing their stance by tapping forearms against the other persons, building up speed as they saw fit. The voice halted their movements as she and Al turned to look at Tris who seemed somewhat nervous to be called out by the leader, no one liked it when he called them out. "In the ring."

He glanced over at her then, and she did what she'd done the first time she looked away from him after jumping off the roof. Her mouth quirked the tiniest bit before turning to look at her friend who seemed more than a little anxious.

"Last jumper, time to fight," he said looking for who the last jumper was. Turned out to be Molly, the dark haired girl that Tris, Christina, Will, Al, and Reeve tended to shy away from as she hung out with Peter and Edward. She sauntered up to the mat slowly, and although both she and Tris seemed wary of what was going to happen her pasture held a more confident air than the once Abnegation girl.

"How long do we fight for?" Molly asked turning to look at Eric.

"Till one of you can't continue," he replied.

"Or one of you concedes," Four stepped in to say. Reeve turned to look at the two men on the other side of the ring curiously; she always liked watching conflict when it involved someone she disliked. Obviously there was some sort of tension between the two, and she was more than happy to watch it from the other side.

"According to the old rules, the new rules, no one concedes," he said without looking at anyone. Reeve had to strain her hearing in order to hear the next part of the conversation as they lowered their voices to speak to each other. Even going as far as inching closer towards where they were standing, for some reason she enjoyed riling her enemies up, especially when it had been her brother. Just to see the man's face crumple into one of hatred and blooming rage as he tore through the house unable to do anything as she poke the angry bear from behind a shield. Back then the shield had been her mother, father, and younger siblings, but here she would have to be careful because she didn't have anything like that.

"Really want to lose them on their first fight?" She almost didn't hear what Four said.

"Well a brave man never surrenders," was the response.

"Lucky for you those weren't the rules when we fought," Four said with a small grin on his face. Though Eric didn't turn to look at the other man Reeve could tell he was pissed off at the comment, his gaze shifted towards the others in the room until he found her again. Slowly she let a smirk find its way onto her features, a subtle expression that she carried with her as she turned away from him. Eric let his eyes flare dangerously; of course she had heard that.

"You'll be scored on this so fight hard," he bit out venomously. The two in the ring faltered for a few moments before Eric became impatient. "Go," he huffed.

Eric barely watched the fight, all he could think about was the way that girl had smirked at him and how angry it made him. He'd gotten used to, and even expected the indifferent expression on her face, but to see her react to something that Four had said was infuriating for reasons he did not know. Yet at the same time the way it had changed her face so easily was interesting, what other expressions could she make and would he be able to see them?

Reeve was watching the two girls fight carefully, analyzing how they struck each other and when they grew sluggish after taking a hit. Molly was slow but had powerful punches, forceful hits that threw Tris off balance, if Reeve ever went up against the once Candor girl she'd have to move fast and strike quickly. Probably aim for the neck to disorient her before stabbing under her ribs with clenched knuckles, perhaps an elbow to the head or a knee to the nose.

It was over with quickly and Reeve was the first to go to Tris, checking for blood like she had done many times for her brothers and sisters when they fell or hit their heads. She was unconscious and would more than likely need a cold cloth if there would be swelling, or just to keep the head ache down.

"Is there something cold I can put on her face?" She questioned towards Four. Eric didn't exist at the moment and he was annoyed that she disregarded him completely, irritated enough to shout out the next fight.

"You," he pointed the red haired girl. "Stay in the ring, someone take the stiff," he said keeping his gaze on the girl in front of him. Reeve glared at him darkly, pissing him off even more, it made him realize that he didn't even know her name while she obviously knew who he was. "Second to last jumper, your turn," he muttered not even remembering who had jumped just before Molly.

It was another girl who looked about the same size as the red haired one; he didn't know what the girl's name was either, just that she looked nervous.

"You've got this Reeve," Christina said while pulling Tris out of the ring. The red haired girl kept her gaze on the figure opposite of her as the other initiate, who turned out to be Myra, put her hands up in order to guard as they both waited for Eric to speak. She knew the girl from Erudite, she'd transferred over with Edward, her boyfriend, and Reeve often followed them with her gaze at school when nothing else exciting was happening.

The leader stared at them expectantly, waiting for the two of them to go at each other until he realized that they were waiting for something.

"Now," he spat out annoyed.

Reeve had been waiting for him to speak so the other girl would turn to look his way; it was at that moment that she lunged, taking two quick steps forward. Myra shifted backwards sharply, stepping awkwardly on her left foot and leaning that direction a little too much. Reeve saw it as an opportunity and swung a slightly cupped palm onto her ear drum, clapping against the skin for a second before she grunted and staggered away.

Myra sent a few weak punches in her direction and Reeve saw an opening while her arms were away from guarding her face. Intentionally she took a hit to the ribs in order to hit the other girl's throat which caused her to gag almost immediately and shrink away. They circled each other again as Myra gasped and Reeve watched carefully, where she'd been punched ached slightly but she ignored it. With a yell Myra launched at her, trying to hit her in the head and grabbing her hair when she missed. It made Reeve hiss angrily, if it had been up to her when she lived in Erudite she'd have lopped it all off a long time ago, now it was only making trouble for her.

Angry hands in her hair tore at her scalp as Myra pulled her around like a ragdoll, Reeve snarled darkly towards the girl before sinking her hands into the soft skin of the exposed stomach in front of her. Clenching the flesh against her fingers she twisted her wrists around before punching into the girl's stomach, the other could only react with a knee to the face, which Reeve caught in the cheek. She tasted blood in her mouth as her teeth bit through a layer of skin; the metallic warmth of it in her mouth was a wakeup call.

Instead of getting angry like she always did Reeve let a slow breath escape her lips as a little bit of blood trickled down her chin. Myra grinned at the small bit of crimson she had been able to produce from the other girl, though the calm gaze from the green and grey eyed girl did nothing to sate her nerves.

He'd been watching the fight carefully, noting the way the red haired girl analyzed what she was doing before attacking accordingly, and looking for openings and weak points as she fought. If anything it made him all the angrier that he wasn't watching her getting beat into a pulp, next time he'd make her fight one of the guys.

They'd been watching each other for no more than twenty seconds when Reeve smiled towards the other girl, showing off her bloody teeth, she wanted to make her uncomfortable. It made everyone else uneasy as well as Myra inched towards the girl once again, aiming to end the fight now that she was good an angry for being mocked. She went for a punch to the gut that Reeve dodged quickly, already she'd seen this fight in her head, and thinking of all the possible outcomes that could develop depending on what punch Myra threw first. Again she went for the next, liking the choking sound that came immediately after a soft hit to the wind pipe. Then as Myra sank towards the ground and lost her guarded posture Reeve pulled her elbow back and took a step towards the right, taking her elbow with her. Landing a swift hit to the back of the head had the other girl crumpling to the ground with a muffled yell.

She'd never fought anyone before, only verbal fights with her brother that left both of them with clenched fists and bitter tastes in their mouths. The amount of time she'd gone into her room to punch a hole in her wall were many, she'd always reveled at the stinging tingle of pain that laced her knuckles afterwards. But this was different, someone had been trying to get her down, to hurt her, and she'd protected herself admirably, smartly, and without mercy. At first she'd apologized to the girl silently in her mind but now all that was left was the adrenaline that came with finishing a fight, even with the taste of blood on her tongue she could only think of one word. Invigorating.

"Reeve wins," Four called out. A few of Myra's friends went to her then, moving the girl towards the medical bay as Four told them to.

Next to him Eric glowered down at the girl as she wiped her lips and chin, he hadn't been expecting the smile that crossed her features during the fight. The way her eyes had hardened just before she swung and the excited air about her after she'd finished, as if she'd enjoyed the whole thing, and now he knew her name.

Reeve.

If nothing else happened during initiation except watching this girl fail Eric would be happy, he just wanted to watch her crumble and see all the expressions that came with it. She'd be his project, how far could he push this girl before she finally snapped?

"Alright guys, over here," he turned to walk towards an electric board towards the middle of the training area. "Listen up," he stopped and turned once he made it next to the thing. "You know what this board is?" He questioned looking at all of them. Before seeing her own name Reeve saw Tris's in red and Christina in white, her name was also in white, a few spaces above the girl she had just fought. "Your life. Grade you every day, if you're still in the red by the end of the first stage, you're out," he explained glancing over at Reeve as she prodded the inside of her cheek with a bored expression on her face.

"That's it for today," Four called out behind them.

At dinner Reeve was careful of her cheek as the others congratulated her on a good fight, asking if her head was okay after the hit she took. She was more worried about Tris who had taken a beating in comparison to her fight; Reeve kept giving the girl pointers on how she might be able to get rid of the head ache. They went back to their shared living quarters to relax; Tris was worried about her ranking.

"I'm never gonna make it," she sighed sadly.

"Yes you are," Christina muttered.

"I'm the weakest one here," she added making Reeve frown next to them.

"Then you'll be most improved," the dark skinned girl countered with a grin.

"You're Candor; you're not supposed to lie."

"I was Candor, and I'm not lying," she replied while sitting down on her bed.

"At least you can't get any worse," Reeve murmured before catching what she said. Christina glanced over at the red haired girl with her mouth open; it was the first time she had made a joke about anything. Tris gave her a bland look while Christina held back a smile.

"Where did that come from?" She laughed while Reeve gave them a clueless expression. "Maybe we should hit you in the head more often." Tris laughed at this while Reeve frowned.

"I don't know how I feel about that," she responded blandly.

"If they cut me I think my parents will take me back," Al joined into the conversation from a few feet away.

"No it doesn't work like that," Will explained while taking off his boots. "Even if they wanted to their faction wouldn't allow it."

"Even if my parents would take me back, I wouldn't belong there anymore," Tris's voice got quieter near the end of her sentence.

"I'd rather be factionless than go back to my family," Reeve added letting her mouth speak before her brain caught up. They all glanced at her with wary expressions on their faces as she glared across the room, staring at something that didn't exist in their eyes.

"This is getting depressing," Christina said blandly looking at them. Will agreed with a laugh and Reeve couldn't help but feel the same, any time she thought of home or her old faction her brother popped into her mind. "You know what we should do?" She questioned rhetorically. "Get tattoos."

They all chuckled lightly before standing up, pulling a reluctant Reeve to her feet; she didn't really see the point in getting something permanently burned into her skin. There wasn't anything she had liked for more than a year that she would want anywhere on her body.

On the way to the parlor they passed a hair cutting place, the glint of shiny scissors had caught the red heads eyes as she grinned in anticipation. It was something she had always wanted to do, get her hair cut, but her mother was against a girl having short hair like a boy. Her mother was no longer here and Reeve's hair had been latched onto that day during a fight for the simple fact that it was too long, it needed a decent cut.

"I'll meet you there," she turned away from the group. Will turned around to jest her about being scared but saw where she was headed.

"Maybe we won't recognize you afterwards," Christina joked before they turned around a corner and left the girl to walk in alone.

It was a small area with two chairs that looked at mirrors and various other objects that lined a shelf just under the reflective surface. A girl with hair so blonde it looked white saw her walk in and smiled devilishly at her, as if the sight of her flaming hair was exciting. Her hair was long on one side and pulled into a weird sort of ponytail on the other side, spiked up in the back and wild looking. Reeve couldn't imagine it bouncing all over the place during a fight or even waving back and forth during a jog, it probably looked ridiculous.

"Ready to get crazy, or are you just looking for a trim?" She said leading Reeve towards a chair.

"I want it short," she answered realizing how foolish she probably sounded to the woman. She'd never been one to worry about her appearance and didn't know how to do anything with her hair like her sister had. "I don't know any styles so, whatever you think would look best," she concluded. If it was this woman's job to cut hair, she was probably pretty good at it, so if she left her with all the power she couldn't complain in the end.

"Are you sure?" The smile she was sporting looked devious. Reeve nodded before turning to look at herself in the mirror. Two different colored eyes looked back. "How about something to highlight those gorgeous eyes?" She questioned already ideas forming into her head about what she could do with such vibrantly red hair.

"Whatever you want," Reeve finished before closing her eyes like the woman instructed.

Throughout the whole thing Jyn, she'd told Reeve her name, tried to make small talk with the girl but soon found out that very minimal responses was all she was going to get. So instead she focused on getting everything perfect, it'd been a while since she'd gotten to do whatever she wanted with someone's hair.

"Alright, what do you think?" Jyn mused turning the girl around to look in the mirror. Reeve opened her eyes slowly, looking at the person in the mirror blandly before realizing she was looking at her own reflection.

Her bangs were swept towards the left across her green eye, covering it only slightly while her grey eye lay uncovered on the right side. A sort of asymmetrical look that drew attention to the odd color of her irises, something she wouldn't have wanted in the past but couldn't care less about now. The rest of her hair had been clipped close to her head and feathered; her ears just peaked through the red length trimmed around the lobes.

"You look completely different," Jyn said with a gasp.

"I don't even look like myself anymore," Reeve whispered breathlessly.

"You like it?" The crazy blonde haired girl asked while wagging her eye brows.

"Yeah," she answered in a breathy voice.

"Great," she squeaked. "Because I think you look hot," her comment made Reeve stare at her blandly. She didn't care about that; the big difference was how much lighter her head felt without so much hair holding her down. "Any guy looking at you will want to take a bite," she smirked slyly.

"What does that even mean?" Reeve questioned with a quirked eyebrow.

"I'm sure you'll find out," she muttered before laughing at the initiates' disgusted expression. Little by little she was opening up to the people in this faction; slowly she was coming out of her shell, something she hadn't done in a long time. "Make sure to come back and see me when it gets too long," Jyn called out to her as she left the store.

"Thanks," she muttered softly before turning towards the tattoo parlor. Just as she went around the corner someone came from the other side, Reeve was met with a hard chest that made her stumble backwards against the rocky wall.

"Damn short people," she heard a voice growl as someone pulled her back onto her feet harshly. The grip softened when the person saw that she was a girl, only to tighten again when they realized who she was. The voice had sounded familiar and only when Reeve looked up at the man did she understand why.

Eric was glowering down at her with a confused icy glare in his eyes.

**.**

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><p><strong>AN: Ehhh? What did you think? Still as good as the first chapter? Better than the first chapter? There really isn't that much going on right now, sorry about that, it'll get better. But there was more Eric in this chapter than the last one at least. I apologize for errors again (such hatred for editing).<strong>

**Please remember that this story competes with all my other ones and reviews are what I look for. I'm actually going to write a chapter for a different story now, but if you all (ya'll) review a lot for this one I might ignore it to write chapter three.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I went a little haywire with this one, told myself that I would keep chapters at around 5k words, this one is six, oops, oh well.**

***Thank you again to everyone who reviewed, (Hasu-Valmar-Ana-Ariel-Angel-Sarc) you make me so happy I could cry, except that my heart is cold and I only cry when people die. This story is definitely winning all of my attention, I even started writing a chapter for my other story and got bored when I wanted to continue this one.  
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**I hate editing. I'm sorry, but it's true. Even for my Finals I didn't edit the first draft much because I didn't want to read through the papers again. I apologize for mega mistakes and embarrassing flaws, I read a paragraph from the last chapter and laugh/sobbed at myself for so many misspelled words (I kept writing next instead of neck).  
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**Anyway, hope you like it.**

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**Chapter Three**

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Two things had been stuck in Eric's mind since training the transfers earlier that day, both of them were about that damned red head named Reeve. He couldn't stop seeing her smirking at the fact that he had been beaten by Four at one point in his life, she'd looked smug and curious about what they were saying to each other. As if it had anything to do with her. Then there was the bloody smile she'd made during her fight, it had made the other initiates around him bristle slightly at the sight, it looked like she was enjoying it. Then as soon as the fight was over she was back to her regular boring self, with her ever bland expression staring at her name of the ranking board.

What was even more vexing was the red headed girl in front of him, the same girl and yet she now looked so very different than she had just a few hours earlier. Her strange mismatched eyes demanded to be seen with her new haircut, making them all the more alluring, people would definitely get stuck in their stare.

As soon as he started to glare down at her form in slight confusion she let her eyes harden as well, staring up at him defiantly, but with the same air of indifference as always. With their difference in height Eric could easily look over her head, which made her want to snarl at how short she was. Collin hadn't been much taller than her, but it always made the girl angry when he implied that she couldn't do anything for herself due to her height. But Eric wasn't thinking about how helpless she was after the fight earlier; this little spitfire had an edge now, a blistering gaze to hold her enemies in until she moved to strike.

He could see the smooth skin of her neck exposed for everyone to see, the pale color of her flesh was pure of any discoloration making his mouth water. He could see himself flattening Reeve against the rocky wall with his body and latching his mouth onto her neck, sucking and biting until a darker color rose to the surface of that innocent skin. Marking her with something that everyone would be able to see now that she was showing anyone who wanted to look how alluring she was, the discoloration would show her as his.

"Can you let go of my shoulder?" She questioned in a bored voice.

It broke Eric from his thoughts suddenly; tearing him back to reality and making him remember that Reeve was enraging to deal with, even if her appearance had changed for the better. This was the same person that only seemed to react at other people's pain; he scolded himself for such thoughts. Yet he couldn't help his eyes from straying back to her milky white neck, just one mark, and that would be enough to satisfy him.

"Do you know how easy it would be for me to throw you over the edge? No one would question a leader," he growled ripping his gaze away from her neck to look back into her eyes. She stared at him with a cloudy look in her eyes, as if she was imagining her death scene if that really were to happen. Eric found himself watching her lips as she spoke.

"At least I would die right away," she answered letting small traces of a smile show on her face.

Eric snarled before pushing past her in the direction he had been going in earlier, he'd let some lowly transfer plague his mind with annoying thoughts. If only she hadn't cut her hair, the girl behind him looked much more mature than she had earlier. Her skinny body had been strong against him, only fueling his anger, how could someone so lithe and seemingly so defenseless rile him up this much? Even as he trudged away from her, doing his best to wipe her from his mind, all thoughts of Reeve couldn't be sated.

Behind him said girl frowned at his retreating form before going in her original direction towards the tattoo parlor where he friends were burning black designs into their skin. The place was darker than the haircutting place had been, with smoky red lights. Black patterns and pictures were hanging all around the area on yellow glass, she recognized Al as he was still looking through someone that would match him perfectly. Christina saw her first as she was getting one done on her upper arm, in a place where she could hide it against her body if needed be.

The dark skinned girl let her expression falter when she saw Reeve walking towards her, unsure of whether or not she knew the person until looking into her eyes.

"What the hell?" She exclaimed looking at Reeve in shock. In response to her the red head simply smirked, an expression that only commented her new appearance as Al came over to see what was wrong. "You look like a different person," she said still trying to find Reeve's old look in her new one.

"Who does?" Al questioned glancing over at Reeve once. He looked back again after seeing the grey and green eyes, his eyebrows rising in surprise when finding out that he did in fact know the person in front of them. "Reeve?"

"No, it's Peter," she grinned at them. To get such a response out of everyone was exciting, even Eric had looked like he was struggling through his own thoughts when they had met earlier.

"You look awesome," Al muttered trying not to stare too much.

It was something that Reeve wasn't used to, all the looks that came with getting a new look, it bothered her slightly. Before everyone would glance at her and perhaps not notice her eyes before disregarding her completely, but with just the two people in front of her. It appeared that she would have to get used to people looking at her from now on. Even Eric had made her want to squirm in his grip, there was something about the look in his eyes that gave her the urge to run away, as if something dangerous was about to happen. But she had ignored such thoughts, nothing had happened in the long run so it would have been unnecessary to follow such random instincts.

When Tris and Will saw, their reactions was much of the same, it was agreed that for now her hair cut was Dauntless enough. Mostly because they didn't have time to wait for her and Reeve wanted to go to sleep for the night, besides she didn't know what she wanted to get on her skin that would stay there forever anyway. If anything Will was even more annoying than he had been before and Reeve wished he would just treat her like he treated Christina and Tris, one question, a few snide fact driven remarks. Then done, nothing else from him for a little while, but no, for some reason he decided to bug her and ask worthless questions.

The next morning Tris was up early, Reeve roused awake slightly when the girl passed her bed quietly; perhaps it was the wakeup call that had been Tris near the bottom that got her wanting to improve. Either way Reeve couldn't go back to sleep now that she was already awake, so she pulled herself into a sitting position slowly and followed Tris out after about ten minutes. If she was going to train to improve herself and get better, Reeve might as well do the same thing, at least then they could give each other pointers on how to improve.

The first thing to get better at was stamina, Reeve ran out of juice too quickly and couldn't keep up in a long run or perhaps a long fight, and there was always room for her to be faster. Every morning Tris woke up early to train, usually she worked on the punching bag trying to improve her hits, Reeve woke up to run. Mostly she would sprint from one end of the room to the other, but sometimes she wouldn't stop jogging for an hour or more.

Now when they ran she was at the front of the pack with Four, her breathing had gotten steadier and her punches had gotten faster and more calculated. Now she knew how to tire the other person out without having to do much, as long as she dodged their powerful punches she could use their own force against themselves to bring them down. She and Tris improved together, and though they didn't speak very much to each other during that time alone in the mornings there was a bond that began to grow between the two of them.

Tris was twenty sixth now, while Reeve sat at a comfortable fifteenth. Although she had greatly improved in the area of quick strikes, and stamina Reeve failed to realize something important. Eric had been watching her, at first her eyes had followed him, curious as to who the leader was and eager to grin at his demise. But ever since she'd been waking up early to train her mind was elsewhere, focusing on how she could do better and not at all worried about the man who stared at her from across the room. His eyes followed her form, much to his dismay; he couldn't get his mind off thinking about the vixen in front of him.

She'd gotten faster, her lithe form packed on a bit more muscle than the last time they had ran into each other, he wondered slightly if her shoulder would feel as weak as it had been before. He watched her run sometimes, the way her hair flicked past her eyes and the steady way in which she controlled her breathing. He couldn't get the transfer out of his mind and it was starting to make him insane, her cool gaze that sometimes glanced his way wasn't enough to satisfy his want for her expressionless face. What made him even more angry was how the other Erudite transfer seemed to stick to her side like a leech, she even showed the initiate an irritated expression from time to time, something she had never let him see freely. Not that she was his to control, but it was just infuriating him that she was with anyone else.

Even now as he watched Christina and Molly fight she wasn't watching him and his hard expression, she was watching Molly and looking for any weakness she might be able to use against the girl if ever they were to fight. Which was a smart move, to know her enemies and her allies, yet he growled at the thought of her ignoring him so easily. At night he often wondered how he had allowed himself to become so bitter and resentful towards one girl, someone who wasn't even a member of Dauntless yet. He wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into her neck and hear her cry out, to do anything that would make that dull expression fall away from her face.

"Stop… Stop!" Came the pained cry of Christina that broke him from his thoughts abruptly. She coughed and pulled herself away from Molly as Eric glowered down at her, he took a quick glance in Reeve's direction to see that she was looking at the dark skinned girl now. A bit of worry reflected momentarily in her green and grew mismatched eyes before it was gone when she looked up at him blandly. "I'm done. I'm done," the girl beneath them sagged into the ground. Suddenly Eric's eyes lit up with an idea, he didn't show it on the outside but within himself he was smirking devilishly.

"You need to stop?" He asked making Christina look at him shakily. Her nose was bloody, and she had deep wrinkles on her forehead as her eyebrows knit together in pain, she heaved as she nodded her head. "Okay," he said. "Let me give you a hand." He held out his hand for Christina to take, which was very uncharacteristic for him, if it had been Reeve he was reaching for she would have refused it and gotten up herself. But the dark skinned girl grabbed onto his fingers and pulled herself up, nodding at him again.

"Thanks," she muttered breathlessly.

"All right, let's everyone take a break!" He called out to the rest of the room. His voice echoed and made Reeve wonder what he could be planning, the way she had grown to know the leader was never to be nice to people. And he was doing just that. "Follow me," he started to lead them away from the training area.

Reeve moved to help Christina as the girl went to get her jacket, quickly she assessed the wounds as the darker skinned girl pushed her away weakly. If there was anyone she was going to help to get better it would be her friends and allies, when it came to enemies she couldn't care less. Christina had been nice to her from the get go, and whatever Eric was planning, Reeve would made sure that the girl was okay. As they started walking after the man he slowed to the point where he was walking next to them, he glanced at Reeve for a second, letting mischief glint in his eyes before he put a hand behind Christina's back to lead her away.

Tris and Reeve glanced at each other uneasily, either Eric was being extra nice to his hated initiates, or he was planning something. If Reeve knew anything she knew that Eric had something ready for their friend, he wasn't nice to people without retaliation. As they neared a bridge his hand began to move a little lower onto her back, the size of his palm and fingers seeming to dwarf the small of Christina's back.

"You feelin' a little better?" he questioned as they walked into the light coming from the sky above them.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the girl responded while their boots clinked against the metal bridge beneath their feet.

Eric moved quickly, pushing Christina off the bridge while at the same time grabbing the railing behind him and grabbing her hand to keep her from falling completely. Reeve watched with slightly wide eyes that glanced up to Eric to see that he was already staring at her; a look of satisfaction crossed his features before he turned to stare at Christina who was gasping and whimpering beneath him. Her one hand gripping the rail strained against the weight of her body as she glared up at the leader menacingly.

"Grab the rail," he said indifferently. Christina grunted below him as he placed her hand next to the other one. "Or don't. You've got three options," he started speaking again. "Hang there and I'll forget your cowardice. Fall and die. Or give up. But if you give up, you're out," his voice rang out into the cavernous walls around them.

Everyone's eyes were trained on the girl gripping onto the railing for her life, everyone except for Reeve that is. She was glaring at the leader in front of them venomously, for some reason, there was a feeling in the gut of her stomach, that told her Eric was doing this as a way to get back at her for something. A dark tugging inside that made her bite her lip bitterly as she glared at the man.

"Come on Chris," Tris said next to her shakily.

The man in front of them turned to glare at her but instead found his eyes straying to the red haired vixen that he was really targeting. She was biting her lip and staring holes into his form, her eyes flaring up with raw hate that made his skin bristle in excitement. It was exactly the reaction that he had been hoping he would receive, that and so much more when his eyes found her lips that raised slightly as if to snarl at him. She looked to be breathing heavily as if to control her rage towards him, although he could be imagining it, but the way she stared him down so poisonously made him want to do it all the more.

It made him wonder what else he could do to gain that sort of reaction from her, and yet it wasn't enough to be able to watch her from far away. He thought it would be, and it wasn't, he would have to get closer. Looking away from her to listen to Christina grunt against the strain beneath him was boring now; he glanced at Reeve one last time to see that her expression had disappeared back into the bland one she always wore.

"Time," he shouted. He'd been expecting Reeve to rush forwards to get her friend but she stayed back, making him want to growl at her angrily. Already she'd realized that he had targeted her friend as a means to get back at her, though perhaps she did not know the reason why, she'd still figured it out. As long as she didn't react, he'd leave her alone eventually right? Wrong. "Dauntless never give up," he said sternly glaring at her indifferent face.

After lunch Four herded them onto a train, Reeve had looked at Christina's hands once they were alone and away from the crazy man that was their leader. She apologized without ever giving a reason why, and continued to ignore all their questions, she even told Will to stuff it when he tried to get more answers from her. This was her fault for showing so much emotion, he was just trying to rile the girl up and it had worked.

"As Dauntless, we fight to protect every life inside the fence, without fail. That's why we train you the way we do. To teach you not to give up. And to find out who has what it takes. Even though it's been quiet out there for years, that could change at any moment. So we have to be ready for everything," he explained. It almost sounded like he was trying to back up what Eric had done to Christina earlier, but Reeve knew that he was just giving them a reason to keep going and push past the hard training.

The trip to the fence was short and raised many questions about what could possibly be on the other side of the farms, to places where the world had not yet recovered from the war.

The next day Four showed them how to throw knives; Eric glowered at them from behind, waiting for an opportunity to be his regular happy self. Reeve watched Four carefully, trying to position herself just like he had done, she smirked when Tris was doing the same thing, except that she was better at it. Reeve threw it fast enough for the knife to stick into the board and for no one to be able to see it leave her hand. But she wasn't the best at aiming and only managed to get the blue figure in the legs or on the arm, it made her growl irritably before she could feel someone behind her.

"A little to the left," a deep voice muttered next to her ear.

It made her shiver for a second before she caught herself, Eric was standing behind her, towering over the small form of her body. He put his hand on her back gently and Reeve had to resist the urge to flinch away from him, she hated it when people assumed they could touch her. Even as a child she'd never been one for hugs, even from her own parents, holding hands was awkward, and dancing was unheard of. So as Eric tried to position her for better knife throwing she tried not to shrink under his gaze.

"Aim upwards a little," he spoke again making Reeve grit her teeth together. He took a few steps backwards to give her space to throw. Feeling angry with herself Reeve listened to his advice and pulled her loaded hand back quickly before launched the weapon at the board, in her head she imagined it going through Eric's neck. She could see him dodging it quickly, only letting it graze his skin, a small trickle of blood would slowly seep down his shoulder as she sneered at him.

A thunking sound drew her out of her thoughts as she looked at the knife embedded into the figures neck, a sense of satisfaction rushed through her as she grinned deviously. She threw a couple more knives the way Eric had instructed, one hitting right in the chest while the other lodged just below the other in the neck.

"Good girl," Eric murmured before walking away.

Reeve let an irritated growl tickle at the back of her mouth as the man moved down the line, hearing him say that made her angry. As if she would be happy to get help from him and then get a comment of praise for it.

"Why do you always aim for the neck?" Will asked of her when he saw where she was mostly hitting.

"Because then they can't breathe, and not being able to breathe is far more scaring than seeing blood drip down your skin," she explained glaring down at her next knife.

"That's creepy," Christina commented from the other side of Will.

"That was pathetic," Eric's voice stole their attention. He was looking at Al as the teen tried his best at throwing the knife towards the wall.

"It slipped," Al scoffed.

"Well, go get it!" Reeve looked down the line to stare at the man, remembering how it had felt to have him right behind her.

"What while they're throwing?" Al asked a little smartly, as if the leader might change his mind.

"Are you afraid?" He questioned. With the way Al was Reeve hoped that he wouldn't respond the way she knew that he would, pleading with him silently to be smart and think before speaking.

"Of getting stabbed by an airborne knife? Yeah."

"Everybody stop," Eric commanded of the rest of them. Reeve cringed, perhaps if Al had not been Candor he would've been able to say something smarter. "Stand in front of the target." Al looked at him as if he wanted to say something before thinking better of it and slowly moving towards the line of blue figure in front of them. "Four you want to give me a hand here. You're gonna stand there while he throws those knives. And if I see you flinch, you're out," he said walking towards the transfer with an intimidating aura. "One thing you will learn here is that orders are not optional.

Reeve glanced at Eric as he moved away from Al and let Four flip the knife around in his hands, she gave the once Candor a stern expression and nodded at him shortly. His own expression looked terrified, not that Reeve could sympathize with him, and he'd been too brash and didn't think before speaking. By now everyone knew that Eric had a short fuse, he should've been more careful when speaking. Though it didn't stop her from glancing at the leader with a hidden rage inside, first he'd gotten into her personal space and then he'd targeted her friend.

"Stop," Tris said before Four could start. Eric faltered next to Reeve before glancing at Tris lazily; Reeve looked at Al instead of the man next to her as he played around with the knife in his hands. "Anyone can stand in front of a target. It doesn't prove anything," she shook her head.

"Then it should be easy for you to take his place," Eric rumbled next to her. She glanced at him then to see his gaze turn from Tris to her quickly, but she didn't look away from him. If anything he took a step closer to her, bumping her shoulder with his own she stood her ground when he'd expected her to shy away. Reeve looked away first to watch Tris trade places with Al. "Same rules apply," he said before moving away from Reeve suddenly.

Tris glanced around the room before making eye contact with Reeve, she was looking at her blandly, like always, it made her smile faintly, because at least that had stayed constant throughout everything that changed so easily. Reeve was the anchor in their group of friends, no matter what happened right now, she would be there afterwards to make sure they were okay. Checking their wounds, or putting cool pieces of cloth on their face. Every time Tris needed to calm down she could look at Reeve.

"Oh, come on Four," Eric commented after the first knife flew. The next one landed to the side of her head and still Reeve had the same indifferent stare, if she had thought Tris would be unable to do this her expression would be different right? "You can get closer than that," he added afterwards.

"You want me to give her a little trim?" Four asked with a small grin on his face.

"Yeah, maybe just a little off the top," the leader smirked.

After the small amount of contact he'd had with Reeve Eric was burning with intensity, if he had been alone with the red head he wouldn't have even left her side, but not during training. It had been small; a very minimal reaction that he had gotten from the uncaring girl, but it had been enough to ignite his needs. It was something he hadn't been expecting, he'd just wanted to mess with the girl, feel her form beneath his hands and see that neck again. He hadn't been anticipating the shiver that had coursed through her, the small movement that made his skin crawl in response. He was barely touching her and yet she had reacted in such a way, quickly she had covered it up, but he could feel the way the air had changed around them. For a moment the girl next to him had felt small and vulnerable, and then in the next she was back to normal.

That was all Eric had needed, it made him excited, that he could get such a reaction out of her with something so simple, and yet it paled. When he'd gone to stand next to her again she was lazy, the same way she always was with him, it made him wonder if it had been a fluke. Perhaps he had imagined the whole thing, but he knew better than that, if only he could recreate the reaction again, that way he would know for sure.

Snapping out of his thoughts just as the last knife barely cut the Stiff's ear he glanced at Reeve for a second, seeing her holding Tris' gaze comfortably made him smirk before speaking.

"Points for bravery, stiff. Not as many as you just lost for opening your mouth," he said before taking a few steps forward. "Now watch yourself," he warned. "We train soldiers, not rebels. But we're done for today. Get out," he said to everyone else.

They all started to walk back, Reeve was going to wait for Tris until Eric began to walk towards her slowly; the look of mischief in his eyes was not something she wanted to see often. She turned to move away with the rest of the initiates but he stepped in front of her, his eyes trained on her as he moved up to look at him.

"Did I feel a shiver earlier?" He questioned as her eyes hardened dangerously.

"That's what happens when you're cold," she muttered blandly. He smirked at her response before taking a step out of the way for her to move. She made sure to avoid his shoulder and stalked back to the shared living quarters, frowning deeply as she felt eyes on her back. It wasn't certain at the moment, but if he didn't know now, Reeve was certain that he would know soon. Her weakness, the one thing she hated.

When Tris got back the others cheered for her, Reeve had gotten a towel and was soaking it in order to clean off her friend's ear. As soon as her hands touched the cold water she shivered, the reaction made her remember the feeling of Eric's breath on her neck. She growled low in her throat before starting towards Tris as eve Molly complemented the girl.

Reeve as just about to grab the girl when Peter stopped her with his own words of congratulations, as if they wanted to hear him say anything. He started spewing something about the transfer's old faction and her parents, Reeve glared at him from across t room, hoping that eventually she would get a chance to fight the bully. Knock him off his high horse when a girl beat him, now wouldn't that be something to laugh about.

Eventually Tris had heard enough and was out the door; Reeve had waited for her to do that and was ready with a wet cloth to clean the blood of her ear carefully.

"Thank you," Tris said as they walked away. Christina, Al, and Will joined them shortly and made fun of Peter as best they could, and comforting their friend while Reeve imagined crunching her fingers around his throat. Turning a corner they stopped short when seeing a group with a combination of black and blue clothes people walking towards them, Reeve recognized the lady in front.

"What's she doing at Dauntless?" Will questioned looking at the familiar face of their old faction leader.

"Prior," the woman said recognizing Tris almost immediately. The group paused as Jeanine stopped to look at the once Abnegation girl. "You're Andrew Prior's daughter, aren't you?" She questioned. "Beatrice."

"It's just Tris now," Tris countered seeming to want to get away from the woman. Reeve didn't blame her; she'd never been one to associate with the Erudite leader, even though her mother had worked for the woman for many years.

"Tris, I like that," she responded with a smile. Even going as far as looking at Tris' tattoo and humming slightly. "You made an impressive choice, Tris, despite your parents. And your test results," she said catching Tris off guard.

"You've seen my test result?"

"Of course. I'm glad you were smart enough to know your own mind," she said as if it was a hard decision to make. "Let me know if you ever need anything," she turned to leave before catching Reeve's gaze. "Samantha Benks," her smile was genuine this time.

"That's not my name," Reeve muttered from the back of the group. They all turned to look at her curiously; from the way she was speaking it was as if she hated the woman.

"What is it now?" She asked trying to get an answer that Reeve was not willing to give. She'd chosen to get away from that faction, to speak to it now made her blood boil. "Collin was very disappointed when he heard that you had chosen Dauntless," she said. Reeve bristled angrily at the mention of her brother.

"Good," her voice was icy.

"I'll tell him you're doing well," she said before walking away. The rest of the people behind her smiled and went on their way.

"Who's Collin?" Christina asked looking at the green and grey eyed girl behind them.

"No one important," she snarled before pushing past them in the direction that they were already heading. "I'll see you guys later," she glanced back at them before disappearing around the corner. The last thing she heard before their voices fell quiet was Will.

"He's her brother," he explained.

The thought of her brother being worried about her or even getting news about how she was doing from Jeanine made her bitter. The amount of time he had pushed his beliefs and rules on her stretched across many years, he was one of the main reasons she retreated into herself. He was the biggest bully she'd ever had to deal with and he lived in the same house, which meant that she could never really escape to her room. Not with him yelling at her from inside his own, or beating on the door that she had locked. If she saw him right now Reeve wouldn't hold back in making him pay for all the pain that he had caused her, for the heart ache.

Quickly she found herself in the training room; it was empty and made Reeve sigh in relief that no one would have to see her blow up. Quickly she took off her jacket and shoes until she was in nothing but a sports bra and her pants, she clenched her fists in anticipation. Imagining the feeling of punching her bother clean in the face she swung her fist at the punching bag in front of her.

Back in Erudite when she'd been angry with him she took it out on her bedroom wall, or tried to drown herself in book and reading, anything to get that man out of her head. He had been overbearing and didn't hesitate to hit her if she spoke back to him; above anything else she'd protected her younger siblings. Even though she knew that he would never touch them it made her sick to think that he was doing to them what he had done to her.

Without noticing she'd let her knuckles burst open, bloody fists landed hits on the punching bag in front of her but she didn't care. Reeve just kept imagining that it was his face she was beating to a bloody pulp; she kept seeing herself smiling in satisfaction when it was all over but something in her said she wouldn't enjoy it.

"Stop," a voice broke her from her thoughts sharply. She growled and ignored it, pulling her fist back to launch again before someone grabbed her wrist in a tight grip. "I said stop," he hissed wrenching her away from the bag.

She turned her eyes on him darkly, staring holes into the man's face as he gave her a glare just as stern as her own. Eric gave her a once over, looking at the bloodied bag in front of her and the small puddle of blood below it he frowned as she tried to pull away from him forcefully. He'd been almost excited to see Reeve in the training room, going crazy against a punching bag, to watch her move with such ferocity made him anxious. Then he'd seen the blood drip onto the ground and watched her more closely, the way her eyes were clouded and yet so very focused at the same time. Either she wasn't aware that her skin had split open or she just didn't care.

When he looked at her and she recognized who it was her expression softened and began to go back to the normal, bland expression that she always had on her face. Without thinking he closed his hand around her wounded knuckles and squeezed, he watched her hiss softly as pain took over her features. This was how it was supposed to be, he was the one that was supposed to give her such expressions, that way he could watch her expression change. It made him angry that something else had made her erupt, wasn't it his job to make her this venomous?

"Come on," he growled pulling her away from the bag forcefully.

**.**

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><p><strong>AN: What did you think? A little more development between the characters is what I see, although I should see it because I wrote it...<strong>

**The last story I wrote was a lot of fluff and almost no action, so this is a big change for me, and I hope you're happy because I spent a whole day I could have been painting writing this instead. I mean seriously my sister got home from school and went to work and I'm still writing stuff for this chapter.**

**Anyway, this story is now completely competing with my other story, Now Darkness Falls, for attention since I have picked that one back up again. I have six pages of that chapter and let me tell you that they take longer because my brain likes to die. So make sure to review and I might just ignore it again for all you lovelies.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Took a little longer on this one, still stuck in the middle of writing a chapter for my other story, I keep changing my mind and getting stuck, bleh, oh well. Also, hope you all, had a nice Christmas/Holiday, depending on where you live, I was eating a candy cane while writing this and slit my tongue open. Blood tastes delicious.  
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**All the reviews made me happy~ So thank you to all of you, (Hasu, Valmar, Ariel, Kiwi, guest, Rio), I always love seeing reviews in my email box. I've started to get excited about where this story is going, and ultimately know one of the scenes that it's going to end on.**

**Remember the hatred for editing? Well it hasn't changed, I read through some of this a couple times and fixed what I found way too obvious but otherwise things will be lurking. So I apologize in ad****vance if you cringe/cry at grammar in certain areas, my bad.**

**Well here's the chapter.**

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**Chapter Four**

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He continued to drag her towards the medical bay until she ripped her wrist out of his grip, and glared at him. He'd half expected the girl to let him drag her all the way there without resisting, and yet here she was, cutting holes into him with the force of her stare, a deep rage burning in her eyes.

"What happened back there?" He asked before thinking it through.

"It's none of your business," she replied coldly.

Such a response made him grin at her, something that sent shivers down her spine, it wasn't often that the man smiled or made any other expression other than boredom while training them. Either he was ready to give up with her, or he was just getting started. It reminded Reeve of when her brother used to fight with her after school, it was only when he smiled that Reeve began to worry about what was going to happen next.

Eric watched her expression change from rage to wariness as she assessed what might occur within the next few moments. He hadn't wanted to get involved with the transfer anymore than he had to, but for some reason he just couldn't stay away from her, nor could he get her face out of his head. It didn't matter why anymore, as long as she was in front of him he was going to push her until she cracked a little. He would press her further and further until finally he was satisfied with the result and she disappeared from his mind. As long as she was going to keep pestering his thoughts he would continue t pester her for expressions, reactions, or anything else he could elicit from the stoic girl in front of him.

"Unless you want to end up factionless you'll tell me what the hell happened back there," he growled stepping next to her. "Dauntless doesn't need someone who goes on rampages," he added trying to give his threat some weight. He watched her stiffen next to him, his eyes glancing over her form as she shook with a new rage.

"I was imagining punching my brother in the face over and over again," she murmured finally.

"Oh," he fake sympathized with her. "Did you leave because your big brother was mean to you?"

Reeve had been nervous at first, to clash with one of the Dauntless leaders o early was bad luck on her part, she thought smirking at him across the room was pushing his buttons. But this was different, when he'd been threatening her she could feel the power radiating from his voice and how he stood in front of her. If she wanted to stay and thrive in this faction the first person she would have to pay attention to was Eric, if anything, she would have to do as he said despite how much he reminded her of Collin.

Although with his most recent comment she felt everything fall away from her, all the nervousness and worry over being factionless if she made the leader angry. She saw her brother again, standing just above her with a grin on his face. Clenching her fists painfully Reeve hissed softly before glaring up at the man again, instead of stepping away like she had intended earlier, she took a step forward. Now they were standing in front of each other, Eric towering over the red headed girl easily while she held her ground with a single expression on her face.

"I left because if I had to spend one more day with that foul person, I would have killed him," her voice was icy when she spoke. "I've bandaged my knuckles up enough times to know how to take care of myself."

"Are you sure?" His reply was just as cold. He wanted to challenge her, to wipe that cold demeanor away from her skin and take the entire abruptness that came with ones identity being stolen away. That's what it was for her, the stiff expression that she always wore was just a wall she had built up around herself, and it made him wonder what she had been like in her old faction. Did she ever smile?

She nodded towards him before he launched himself at her, she reacted quickly but not fast enough to be able to predict his moves. For a few seconds she dodged him when he tried to grab her, until she hit the rocky wall behind her and he pinned her to the wall easily. One of her red hands pushed against his chest until he forced it backwards to join the other. A snarl passed through her lips as she growled at him darkly.

"You can't even defend yourself," he smirked down at her.

"What are you trying to do?" She hissed at him.

He drank in the startled look in her eyes as if it was water in the desert, it was an expression he'd not seen in her before and it made him excited. He was tired of all the same initiates that looked weak and perhaps weren't or had some hidden viciousness that only showed through in battle. Sure they were needed and accepted at Dauntless, if anything they wanted those sorts of people,. Reeve was completely different from them; she was quick and calculated, merciless in a fight. It didn't seem to matter what problem she faced, because eventually she would beat everyone else at it, all the while keeping a dead expression on her face. As far as Eric knew he was the only one who got to see all the other faces she made, because he was the one who had caused them in the first place. It was enthralling to know that those reactions were just for him.

Unlike the other initiates who reacted for everyone to see, for Four and Max and the other to see, Reeve remained compliant and bland looking when presented to everyone else. The other expressions she made, those belonged to him now.

"Just curious I guess," he muttered in her ear. It happened quickly, exactly like he had wanted it to, a shiver that passed over her skin like a gust of wind before it was gone. He'd have to find out what her initial weakness was before he got any further.

With that said Eric let go of her wrists and walked away from the girl, smirking at the new plans that leapt into his mind. It was the first time in a long time that he was getting excited about something, even though it was a girl he was anxious to see what would happen next.

-0-0-

The next morning Will and Christina questioned Reeve about her bandaged knuckles but she gave them no answer, nothing to sate their curiosity. Merely grunted before going towards the cafeteria for breakfast, she was still angry about Eric pushing her around the night before; he'd defeated her so easily. She wanted to blame it on how he'd surprised her and how she hadn't been expecting him to attack but in the end Reeve knew that she should have been ready for anything from anyone. That's what they were training them for, to always be on guard and to be able to defeat anyone that challenged them. Yet she had failed, granted Eric was a Dauntless leader, but still. She'd felt so powerless beneath his gaze as he'd pinned her against the wall.

The feeling of his chest forcing her back into the rock had been awkward and made her angry, she had even been able to feel his heart beating through the thin fabric of their clothing against each other. She'd wanted to run, to move away from him and escape, anything as long as he was no longer in front of her. It made her growl bitterly to just remember such a feeling, if she wanted to survive in this faction, the first person she would have to defeat would be him.

It was unfortunate that he liked to mess with her, whether it was to get a rise out of a previous Erudite, or just for the fun of messing with an initiate. Either way, it didn't seem like there was any goal in mind for the man, else he would have said something to her, right? Perhaps not, but she would have to deal with this by herself, Reeve had never been one to give up when something was irritating her.

"Where did you go last night?" Al asked when she sat down next to him.

Tris, Christina, and Will glanced in their direction with an interested expression; maybe they thought that if they pestered her enough she would cave in and tell them.

"We're friends right?" Will added seeing the slightly annoyed look that was beginning to show in her eyes. At such a remark Reeve looked over at the guy, he offered her a small smile. "You can tell us."

"Yeah, come on. It can't be that bad," Christina offered. She glanced at the red haired girl before taking a bite of the eggs on her plate.

For a second Reeve set her lips in a grim line, her first reaction was to not tell these people anything about her, even before her brother started to pester her she had never been one to openly express things. When it came down to it, everyone around her only really cared about themselves so she stopped telling people things because no one listened. Except that she wasn't in Erudite anymore, she didn't have to go home to her brother, and for the first time in a long time there were people who wanted to sit next to her during meal time. At the end of the day, the past is exactly what it should be, in the past.

Not that she was going to tell them everything, but in answer to their question the night previous she could give them a little insight. For putting up with her bland and boring personality she reckoned they deserved at least one answer to the many questions they had asked over their time together.

"Collin is my older brother, I left Erudite to get away from him," she muttered as if it was enough to explain everything that had happened the night before.

Their expressions changed from questioning to curious as more thoughts began to swirl, Reeve could see them fishing for more answers so she started to pull her jacket off at the shoulder. Carefully she tugged the material off her shoulder and moved the cloth of her tank top out of the way until they could see a pale mess of skin that looked as if it had healed in the wrong way. The rest of her skin was pale and clear except for the discolored skin just below her shoulder blade, the thin lines of the scar reached faintly around her torso for a couple inches before it disappeared. So far it had been hidden underneath her clothing and no one had seen it, but now it was an ugly mark on her otherwise unmarked flesh.

"He gave me this," she said recalling the while incident with venom.

It had happened four years before when Collin had picked to stay in Erudite and completed his initiation and training, it had been the first time Reeve had seen him in a while. She'd been reading up in her room when he started shouting at her younger brothers and sisters, he had been angry about his friend who had transferred to Amity. He screamed about being betrayed and swore that if anyone in their family left he would never forgive them. It had been her youngest sister, Elaine that had muttered something about being allowed to choose, that it was their choice in the end to pick where they would live. That was when her brother had turned to the younger girl and Reeve had moved between them, she'd ended up at the bottom of the stairs.

The amount of times Collin had said he was sorry made Reeve sick to her stomach, he'd even offered to help change her bandages while she'd been healing. She had accepted his words at first, but they had been empty as she had found out in the years that followed. That was when she and her siblings had learned to avoid Collin on his bad days; they'd lock themselves in their rooms. Although if something were to happen they could always count on Reeve to be there to bandage them up or take the blow. She had all the scars to prove it.

"Why did he do that?" Will questioned looking at the distorted skin. Shrugging her shoulders Reeve laughed before pulling her jacket back on slowly, it was a real smile, something that was hard to come by for the red haired girl.

"I guess he was angry," they didn't seem to like how she grinned at such a comment.

"Well, at least you don't have to see him anymore," Christina said trying to fill in the silence.

"Didn't you ever want to hit him?" Al asked before thinking about it.

This time Reeve didn't respond, instead she smirked before her expression turned blank again, just because she had told them about Collin didn't mean she needed to offer them anything else. She raised her bandaged knuckles towards them as if they could speak for themselves.

"Oh," Tris muttered before going back to her food. At least the Abnegation transfer could tell when to stop talking and pushing for more answers, it was something she respected in the long haired girl, knowing when to stop.

"What?" Al questioned not catching what she meant with her knuckles.

Reeve ignored the rest of it, somehow there was a strange feeling welling up in her chest, as if she had given away too much information too soon. Perhaps it was the simple fact that she hadn't told anyone anything in a long time and her brain was protesting against so much being out in the open, it was almost scary. At the same time there was a weight that lifted off her heart, as if she could breathe a little easier now that she had told people about what happened to her in the past.

-0-

"First fight, Peter verses Tris," It was Eric's voice that caught their attention. Reeve looked in his direction with the same expression she always wore, an uncaring one, the one he hated the most.

"It's Eric," Christina started. "He's just trying to get back at you," she muttered while they walked slowly towards the mat. Four stopped Tris before she walked completely into the light where Peter was waiting for her, Reeve didn't hear what he said to her, but kept her gaze on the girl. If anyone needed someone to be there for her, to show her everything would be fine, it was Tris. She'd just seen herself in twenty second place on the ranking board, if she lost this, she might not make it past the first round.

Peter made some snide remarks to the Abnegation transfer before they started, Reeve noted the way he stepped before throwing his punches, and it was something she had noticed during his first fight. He was fast to throw punches, and powerful when landing a hit, but he was too hasty and excited to beat down an opponent. Although she was unsure of whether or not she could hold up against his brute force Reeve was sure she could last for a while and knock the wind out of him a few times.

If he went for her face she would dodge and aim for his throat and then while he was gagging knee him in the stomach or aim for his head with her elbow. If his momentum was strong enough she'd twist around him and kick at the back of his knees to take him down before stomping on his ribs with her heels. Or she could take a hit to face and bring her fingers up under his jaw, pushing against his throat until he screamed.

"Stop playing with each other," it was Eric's voice that got her attention again.

Without thinking about it Reeve looked directly at the Dauntless leader on the other side of the fight, he was looking at the fight until he caught her eyes staring at him. She had a clear determined expression on her face, as if she was the one fighting instead of Tris, her grey and green eyes captured his gaze for a few seconds. Only when Eric nodded towards Peter did Reeve flick her eyes away from the man to look at Tris in front of her, she was out cold and she and Christina went to her aid quickly.

"Next fight, Al verses Reeve," Eric said turning his eyes back on the red head in front of him.

Reeve stilled while picking up Tris, Will moved to take her place and helped carry their unconscious friend from the room towards medical. Her burning mismatched gaze fell on Eric with an indifferent stare, he was fishing for some sort of reaction she could tell, but she wasn't going to give it to him.

If the person training them had been anyone else it would have been a simple stroke of bad luck that the two friends were now circling around each other, but it was Eric. The man knew that they were allies and had been hanging out together for the past few weeks; he knew one of them would falter when throwing the first punch. In the end he just wanted to watch one person fight, it didn't matter if they won or lost, he just wanted to see the expressions that she would make throughout the match until the end.

"Come on Al, beat her down," Peter could be heard. The way he spoke made Reeve angry and she imagined that he was in the ring with her instead. If anything she was a little apologetic to the guy in front of her, Al was nice and it seemed that Christina liked him, but when it came down to it, they were fighting for the same position.

"Sorry Reeve," Al muttered before starting to bounce on his feet.

Reeve already had a plan; she'd worked out everyone in a fight, even the ones she called her friends because she figured that eventually she would have to fight against them as well. They had all seen her fight against Myra and win, but now she was pitted against a guy much larger than her. Perhaps not one person expected her to come out on top in this fight, and for good reason, she was thin and wimpy looking in comparison to Al. So she'd play the weak role and let him toss her around a little until he wasn't expecting what would come next.

For a minute or so all she did was dodge while the men around the mat jeered at Al and her for taking so long, that she was pathetic in her ill attempts to his her opponent. It was just what she wanted, to convince Al that she was weak and the only thing she could do was barely miss the hits that he threw at her.

Eric was waiting for the girl to do something; he'd done it on purpose of course, making Reeve fight one of her comrades in order to get a rise out of her. But so far nothing had happened that was noteworthy, her dead stare seemed intent on dodging until everyone grew tired enough to desert the fight altogether. Her eyes said differently as far as Eric could tell, there was something she was waiting for, he could see that she was getting bored with whatever she was planning and ready to strike. The small edge in her gaze made him anxious, and he could feel himself getting excited for whatever she was waiting to do.

It happened quickly and Eric only barely caught sight of the beginning of it. Reeve smirked darkly at Al, making him stare at her oddly, and if possible, seem to cringe away from her expression.

"Finish it or I'll let her win for dragging it out so long," Eric tried to spur the man forward.

That was when Al moved to throw a punch, Eric had been expecting the girl to dodge away from it just as she had been doing the whole fight but instead she let him hit her fiercely in the shoulder. She moved backwards away from him, faking an expression of hurt and weakness before Al moved to hit her again, but this time she was ready. Al aimed to hit her in the cheek and hopefully get her to the ground, Reeve moved in the opposite direction of his punch, just out of his reach and twisted her form around his outstretched arm. She coiled up underneath him before springing upwards like a cat and pushing her pointer and middle finger up under his jaw powerfully.

Everyone could hear his teeth clack together as he tried to move up and away from the blow while Reeve moved around his form and knocked his legs out from under him. He fumbled to get up and she moved to knock him out, only when grabbed onto her ankle and pulled her down with him did Reeve's expression falter. He tugged her ankle jerkily and caused Reeve to smack the back of her head on the ground painfully, only for a second did her expression appear somewhat surprised before she snarled viciously. Without afterthought she twisted her legs around his head and neck, tightening the grip until Al stopped struggling and eventually passed out. She slumped against the floor for a moment before dragging herself to her feet, the world was a little shaky, her vision turned dark for a second and then returned to normal.

Her smoldering gaze whipped around the room towards Peter who looked shocked to see that she had in fact won the fight with minimal damage. Lastly her eyes fell on Eric as she stooped down to pick up her fallen comrade; Christina had gotten back in the middle of the fight and moved to help as well. There were small red lines moving slowly down her leg where Al had gripped hard enough to pierce through her skin. She could almost feel a bruise forming on her shoulder where she had allowed herself to be hit. The back of her head ached miserably from the force of the blow, but she ignored it like she had done to countless injuries in the past.

Eric stared after them as they walked towards the medical bay, his mind still replaying the smirk that she had offered her opponent and the look of surprise when she hadn't seen something coming. If it had been so fun to watch he could only imagine what it would feel like to do such things himself, would the hype be that much higher?

About thirty feet in front of him the three figures stumbled as one of them fell away from holding up the larger guy in the middle. The smaller person fell against wall and slumped towards the ground, it could only be Reeve, and Eric could imagine her shaking with rage at the weakness of her own body.

"Will!" Christina called out towards the initiate watching the order change on the ranking board. The kid rushed over to help them out quickly, trying to figure out what had happened while running up to the group.

She had been fine for about three minutes; Christina had complemented her on a good fight and laughed while they did their best to drag Al to medical. Then all at once she couldn't focus, a blurry spot appeared in her line of sight and quickly spread through the rest of her gaze, making everything appear blurred. Reeve sank backwards ever so slightly before catching herself, stumbling out from under Al's weight she fell away from both of them, only stopping when she hit the cold rocky wall. But her body wanted her to pass out and continued to berate her mind with aching pain that brought her to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Christina questioned doing her best to hold Al up on her own. "Reeve?" She didn't answer, couldn't, not with her head pounding in pain. Faintly she heard the girl call out for Will to come help, barely deciphering the name as her breathing became ragged. She hated this, being weak and injured, trying to pull herself to her feet and failing miserably. Reeve was vulnerable and she despised it.

"What happened?" Will questioned turning towards either girl in hopes of getting an answer.

"She just fell away from us, almost passed out," Christina explained in Reeve's silence. The red haired girl next to them slumped further into the wall and they spoke to each other, she needed to lie down and let her head rest. But there was no way she was going to allow herself to enter darkness so near to Eric, she hoped more than anything that he wasn't watching her right now, that he had found something else to occupy his time.

"Reeve, are you okay?" Will asked making her want to laugh, did she look okay? "Should we take her first, or Al?" Will questioned looking over at Christina.

"I'm fine," Reeve spoke suddenly. Painstakingly she pulled herself to her feet, leaning against the wall for much needed support; she stared at them blandly as she always did, as if the expression would convince them.

"We'll be right back," they said before quickly walking away with Al. Once they turned the corner Reeve let her facial features contort into the pained expression that had been begging to be released.

"That's a nice face you're making," Reeve turned towards the voice quickly to see Eric smirking behind her. He was leaning against the same wall she was using for support, his lips upturned in the rare grin that most people didn't get to see. Like Reeve Eric was lacking in the category of expressing emotions freely, his most famous looks were annoyed and slightly irritated.

"Shove off," she snarled taking shaky steps forwards.

"Careful," he muttered stepping behind her. She could feel his back against her shoulder until she took another step away from him. "You might actually hurt yourself," he followed her small movement.

"I'm sure that'd make you happy," she sneered before faltering against the wall. Without thinking Eric steadied her before growling low in his throat at himself for reacting impetuously, it almost seemed like he cared.

"If I wanted to hurt you I would have done it already," he commented as she tried to shy away from him.

He was too close to her for comfort, touching people, shaking hands, hugging; all of these things were something Reeve hated. It was awkward for her; something that her parents had never really given to her was sympathy and care when she was hurting or being abused by her brother. Always their attention was drawn to one of her older or younger siblings, not to the middle child who appeared perfectly fine on the surface. As a result Reeve had retreated into herself and spent most of her free time alone, reading books and studying the human body if she was to one day become a doctor. Even when Elaine had hugged her goodbye it had been strange, if there was supposed to be a feeling of love in such a gesture it was something lost on Reeve.

Eric pulled her arm until it was slung over his own shoulder before slinking his hand around her waist to keep her steady; she stiffened in his hold on her. Often she would wonder how it felt for someone else to hold her and touch her like someone might embrace their wife or lover, it was foreign to her. She'd really hoped that the man hadn't noticed any change but she felt him chuckle against her, the action making his chest jump against her form as he smiled down at her devilishly. She pushed to get away from him but her head wavered as her vision began to get fuzzy and dark again she stilled and tried to lean further against the wall.

"What's the matter? Nothing to say?" He questioned letting the words whisper into her ear breathlessly. She trembled in his grasp, making him grin all the more as he started to walk towards the medical bay with her next to him. "Do I make you nervous?" His words tickled her skin.

"An-," she started to say before cringing from a wave of pain.

"What was that?" He asked curious as to what she had been about to say. He pulled her closer to his body the nearer they got to where he would let her go. The fact that he was right next to her made Reeve anxious to get away from him, the feeling of his heartbeat only separated by thin cloth made her blush slightly. This was weird, she could feel his body heat radiating off his form and seeping into her own flesh, it embarrassed her to be so close to someone else.

"Annoying," she sneered before turning to glare at him.

It might have been more menacing had Reeve not been a weak girl leaning against him, vulnerable in his grasp, and now she was blushing. The red tint on her cheeks made Eric freeze, he was almost at a loss for words himself as her mismatched eyes wavered under his surprised gaze. Out of all the reactions he had been expecting from the girl the crimson dusting on her face was the last thing on his list and it baffled him. Soon the color vanished from her pale skin leaving Eric thinking of another way to somehow get that reaction again, what is something he had said? No, she'd never reacted that way before when he'd whispered into her ear, always she'd shivered and her eyes had hardened, but she'd never flushed before.

"Reeve," a voice broke the man from his thoughts. Looking up to see Christina and Will staring at the two of them uneasily, had the Dauntless leader really lifted a hand to help an initiate to the medical bay?

"She's all yours," he said blandly letting the girl fall into her friends waiting arms.

The boy took the same position that Eric had made for himself and soon they disappeared around the corner and out of his sight. Turning around to walk back to the training room Eric's mind wandered over his actions not a minute prior, going through everything he had done to Reeve while she was in his grasp. She'd trembled beneath his breath on her skin and stiffened when he'd initially grabbed onto her but something had made her blush. It'd sent a chill up his spine to see such an expression on her face, she had looked embarrassed for a split second before catching herself and correcting her facial features.

How could he replicate such a reaction again?

After speaking briefly to Malachi, the supposed doctor in the med bay, she was lying down on her own bed next to Tris and Al who were still unconscious next to her. After taking some pain killers she was able to speak without pain, and figured she'd soon enough be able to walk out of the room by herself. Malachi kept commenting things about how her friends were doing and she spoke with him further about what she thought might be a better course of action.

"Where did you transfer from?" He questioned stalling at the door to the next room.

"Erudite, figured if I was going to be stuck there I'd at least be useful as a doctor," she muttered making him grin.

"I'll ask Max to send you here after you pass," he murmured before disappearing around the corner.

"Thanks," she muttered breathlessly.

Reeve looked at the space he had just been in; already she had a place that she would most likely end up in if she were to pass initiation, which was a good sign. At least it meant she wasn't going to end up guarding the wall, which was the last job she had wanted to end up with. Day after day staring off into a distance they could not explore, looking blissfully at the Amity farms that waved in the wind without ever being able to run through the crops. It wasn't something she lusted after. It made her excited to know that someone wanted her for what she knew; perhaps growing up in the blue clothed faction hadn't been for naught.

The only thing that would make Dauntless better would be if Eric suddenly decided she was not worth bothering, but Reeve knew better than that. He was interested in her, for whatever reason, and didn't seem to want to leave her alone.

**.**

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><p><strong>AN: I have an idea that will make Eric jealous and spike up the dramainteraction quite a bit, will either come into play the next chapter or the one following.**

**But what did you think? Do you think Eric is getting in over his head? Obviously Reeve only see's Eric as a nuisance, how many of you think that will change?  
><strong>

**Tell me in the reviews? Maybe?**

**Thanks for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: This chapter has the most words by far! I went a little crazy, and couldn't seem to find where I wanted it to end. Plus everyone gave me such nice reviews, although the single 3 from a random guest, that one leaves me with the most questions. **

** The amazing blackandwhiteangel13 helped edit this chapter, my first ever beta reader. It forced me to read through it a few times and change things as well, so thank you so much blackandwhiteangel13!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Valmar- I actually had another idea that was going to be harder to write so thank you for suggesting that! I hadn't even considered it really. Hasu, angel, Joki, Rachel, Valmar, Bedward, Kat, Mikaela, and Guest x2, you guys make me happy to check my mail.**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter.**

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**Chapter Five**

**.**

Malachi seemed excited to finally have someone to talk to about medical inquiries, the fact that they could keep a conversation going about something that interested Reeve was refreshing. Something she hadn't had in a long time was someone to talk to about what she was reading or studying. In the past it had been her older sister who had also been interested in helping people, but Lou's hobbies were always so prone to change. When it came down to it the mutual significance had only lasted for about a year before the girl decided she liked animals instead.

The man had made sure to give her more painkillers before they started their lengthy debate about whether or not someone could survive without sleep. He'd mentioned that she appeared tired, and otherwise ill rested, though she assured him that she always looked as if she had just woken from a fitful sleep. He told her a few stories about Dauntless members that refused to sleep so they could train to get stronger, and ended up passing out after a small knock to the head during a fight. Her expression didn't even flinch when she told him about how she'd once been cooking dinner after not sleeping for three days. She'd passed out while going to set the table, and nearly fallen on a knife, perhaps if she had been in her room she may have lasted another day or so.

They spoke briefly about the weak points of the human body, and Reeve noticed the way Malachi's hazel eyes seemed to light up when he jumped to make a jab at one of her statements. She wondered faintly if she had ever been as energetic as he was to talk about an elbow to the kidneys; although, there was no way to know. Because after Lou's mind had been lured elsewhere there wasn't anyone else to talk to, and instead of forcing her boring babble onto Elaine she elected to stay silent.

It was fun, to let words fall out of her mouth so freely without having to worry about whether or not the person she was speaking to would take it the wrong way. Eric would surely look for some kind of way to startle her, Christina and Tris would lose interest. Al, and Will would wonder why she frowned in the middle of the sentence when memories of her brother floated to the surface; however, with Malachi, he seemed to understand that she was keeping some information at bay, away from him, and he was okay with that. As far as she could tell anyway, it was something small that made Reeve smile the smallest bit.

If she somehow ended up in the back room with Malachi in a month or so, to continue to talk about different methods, and laugh at stupid people she wouldn't mind it one bit. Perhaps if she was hidden away in the medical quarters Eric would see it as too much of a hassle to even make the journey back there, and leave her alone. She hoped his leader duties would consume his time by the end of the initiate training, and he would disappear altogether.

There was a soft knock that drew them out of the conversation. and averted their eyes towards the entranceway to the room. The familiar dark haired head of Christina peeked around the corner, and grinned at her.

"Wow, you look like crap," she joked trying to get a laugh out of the red head. She'd meant it to be silly sounding, to lighten the mood, but the red head knew better than to take a Candor transfers words lightly. Reeve stared at her blandly, and sighed, unsure of what she had been expecting she turned to look at Malachi. "Can she leave yet?" She questioned the man in front of her. Tris, and Al had been moved to a different room in order to allow Reeve, and Malachi to talk without having to whisper at each other across the room. It also helped the man watch for anyone new that might walk through the doorway with blood dripping down their arm or whatever.

"She's taken enough pain killers to successfully walk," he said with a chuckle.

"Good, because I need her," she muttered before walking over to Reeve, and urging her to stand.

She'd been there for about six hours, sleeping for a couple, waking up with a headache, recovering, and then speaking with the doctor who was more than happy for a conversational partner. By now the sun had gone down, and dinner had already been served. Malachi had managed to get some food sent to them, because he almost never left his domain. Christina had been mulling ideas over in her head ever since Reeve told them about her brother, and showed them her scar. Finally, she had a good one to give to the girl.

Pulling her to unwilling feet Christina tugged at her friend to follow her out of the room while the doctor laughed, and smiled at them mischievously, as if he knew what she was thinking about.

"Why?" Reeve asked before they turned the corner.

"I have an idea," she explained, before glancing back at Malachi for a second.

"See you later Reeve," he called out to the girl with a smirk on his face. As if he understood that Reeve seemed slightly bothered to have a friend that was so pushy, and truthful all the time.

They walked down the hallway, and away from the medical ward until Reeve recognized the familiar passageway that led to the haircutting room, and tattoo parlor. She stopped walking next to Christina just as the purple faded lights touched her toes, and tainted her pale skin with a neon color.

"Another tattoo?" She questioned eyeing the grinning girl next to her.

"I'm not getting one," she explained making Reeve narrow her eyes at her companion. "You are."

"Why would I do that?" Her question was simple, and Christina had been expecting it. Already she'd worked out what she would say in response.

"You know what you should do with that scar on your back?" She mused priding herself on having such a good thought for her friend. "Get a tattoo over it, then you won't have to be ashamed to look at it," she said trying to get her friend as excited as she was.

Her comment made Reeve stiffen slightly, she wasn't ashamed of it, and the scars were just pieces of her that she had to carry around with her for the rest of her life. Memories that hurt to think about, bumps on her skin that seemed to warp beneath her fingertips, stain her clear skin, twisted, and dark. They were parts of her body that had sewn themselves back together after getting torn apart by someone she trusted.

"I'm not ashamed of them," she finally growled.

Christina was slightly taken aback; she hadn't expected Reeve to be so abrupt about the scar. She thought her friend would jump at such a thought, and wonder why she hadn't done it sooner.

"If you cover it up you can forget about it," she tried to make her see the reasoning that had transpired in her own mind.

"What if I don't want to forget," her voice was cold, and got on Christina's last nerve.

"Then you're holding onto the past, and you don't need it," she said shortly before turning away from Reeve, and walking past her. "Think about it," she muttered before walking off with a shake of her head.

Mismatched eyes watched her stalk away. She'd been excited to finally have an idea for the girl, and Reeve had simply shot down every attempt she had made at selling her case. The red head leaned against the wall in front of the faded purple light emitting space in front of her. All the comments Christina had made swirled in her head savagely.

It didn't feel like she was holding onto anything from the past, and yet everything that had happened to her in Erudite was a direct reflection of who she was as a person here in Dauntless. Her brother had beaten, and lectured the cheerfulness out of her. Reeve proved it by not smiling; as much as, she used to. In that regard Collin had won, and yet she had escaped him in the end to a place where he couldn't reach, she'd won. He wasn't here, and yet every time she looked at the scars on her body he was there in her mind, sneering at her, and calling her names even though he was nowhere to be seen. Christina was right, as of right now her past was still defining her, and it had to stop. If she was going to be her own person, and stop thinking about how life used to be, she'd have to start with removing Collin completely.

For years he had had control of her life, he knew where she went day after day, and what she was reading. He knew just how to threaten her to make her listen, repeat what he was saying to her, but now she was alone. Collin had no place in her life anymore. If he had no place anywhere in her mind, then there was no reason to keep his marks on her body, so blatant for everyone to see. Right now he was still with her, the scars on her body proved that he had something to do with making her who she was. She didn't have to put up with it.

With hardened, and angry eyes Reeve walked into the room, and began to look at all the different designs that she could pick from. None of them seemed to catch her attention, until finally she saw something she liked. To others it might have only appeared as some sort of maze, with circles wrapped around each other repeating in layers, and layers, trapping an unlucky person inside. Immediately Reeve recognized it from a book she had once read on how living things age, and record time, it was a tree ring. With thin lined circles, one after the other, after the other, never touching, and yet still connected, with all the years that had gone by.

She picked it off the wall carefully, and let her fingers trace the dark lines before going over to one of the many people sitting down ready with their tools for inking. Sitting down with a pale skinned woman whose hair was dyed red, and yellow Reeve showed her the glass of what she wanted to cover her skin.

"Where do you want it?" She questioned, wondering whether or not she needed to change the size of it or not.

"I'll show you," she responded, while pulling off her jacket slowly.

-0-0-

Christina didn't pester Reeve when she came back that night, the Candor transfer had gotten used to seeing her stoic friend either agree to things with a bland expression, or frown, and walk away. She'd never gotten such a response out of the red head before; she'd never seen the girl laugh, and smile afterwards. Or turn red in anger, and growl at someone bitterly. Sometimes her thin lips would turn down into a frown, or her eyes would harden, but never had she heard Reeve growl.

Everyone else was already in their respective cots, sleeping the night away when she arrived back in the area to slink carefully under the covers. She'd gone back to the medical ward to see if Tris or Al had woken up since she'd been gone; instead, she ran into an excited Malachi who told her that her sparring partner had left shortly after she had. Tris looked the same as she had when Reeve left her, and according to Will there wasn't any good news waiting for her when she woke. After telling the red head to call him Mal, the man gave her some more painkillers before sending her off to bed with a grin. She made sure to sneer at him while walking out the door, she could hear him laughing from down the hallway.

That night she slept well, a faint smile found its way onto her lips as she thought about the new additions to her pale skin. The best part was that if one were to move their fingers over the ink they would still be able to feel the bumpiness of scarred flesh.

The next morning she woke up early, her head only throbbed slightly, and she easily shrugged it off before pulling herself out of bed, and getting dressed. While pulling on her pants Christina roused awake next to her, and noticed the new tattoo on her back; Before the girl could say anything Reeve winked at her. A soft smile found its way onto her lips, in the end Christina had been trying to help her, or perhaps she wanted to have something to talk about where the Reeve would respond. But either way, she'd wanted to assist Reeve in getting rid of her brother, and for that she was grateful. The Candor transfer grinned at her sluggishly before rolling over, and snuggling back into her covers, she could still sleep for an hour or two. Just because Reeve liked to sprint around the compound before anyone else woke up didn't mean that she had to.

For ten minutes the jog was fine, it successfully stole her thoughts away from other things like Eric and Tris. Reeve had looked at the scoreboard the night before. Their friend was below the line, and there was nothing any of them would be able to do to help her get above it, not when she hadn't woken up yet. While running the only thing she ever seemed to focus on was her breathing, if she kept it steady it meant that she was okay to keep going. When she'd first started training early in the morning with Tris her throat would choke, and sputter after a short ten minutes, but now she could go close to an hour without lagging.

It was only when she started running towards the Pit, and reveled at the feeling of sunlight coming through the glass did Reeve waver in her footsteps. The very person she didn't want to see had just turned the corner, and even though he hadn't seen her yet she jerked to a stop. For a second she was static, stiff, hoping that in the few moments she was hesitating that he wouldn't glance her way, and smirk at her. Finally, her brain responded, and she sprinted in the direction of the medical ward. She'd been planning on checking Tris after her jog was over, but she could always do it right now.

When was the last time she had adamantly avoided someone? Even with her brother she'd never made an effort to stay out of his way, because if she wasn't there to beat on he would move on to one of her other siblings. She would grit her teeth, and make sure to always be there whenever he got home from his day of work, to make sure that he wasn't going to hurt anyone else she cared about. Perhaps she'd never been this cautious about someone. Every time she thought about the young leader a frown etched its way onto her lips before her mind became clogged with the feeling of him being so close to her. How ashamed she had felt to be so weak in front of him, that he had to support her, the fact that she had been within someone's arms, so embarrassing.

Reeve growled bitterly to think that she was somewhat afraid of him, or perchance not afraid, but cautious of his proximity to her. Out of all the initiates he seemed to like her the most, for what reason she did not know, because as far as Reeve knew of herself she wasn't exciting. After a few years of her brother telling her that if she smiled she was sure to end up at Amity, and how it just wasn't going to happen she stopped. Never had she been one for friends or sharing emotions, she didn't smile that much, and if she didn't like someone she barely spoke to them at all. There had to be more interesting people than her in Dauntless, why did he only pick on her?

-0-

"Will and Myra, you're up first today," Eric commanded, while walking towards the group of initiates slowly.

After eating breakfast with Christina, Al, and Will had all moved on to the training room. Tris was still out from the day, though Mal said she would probably wake up soon. They'd been practicing their hits with Four's instruction before the Dauntless leader decided to show up, much to everyone's dismay. The only thing that made his appearance better was the dirty blonde haired man behind him, Reeve quickly switched from Eric's gaze to that of the hazel eyed Malachi behind him.

"Where's the stiff?" His question made a few initiates falter in their movements, as they glanced at each other warily.

"She hasn't woken up yet," Will was the first one to speak up.

"I guess she's out then," he said, trying to keep a dull expression on his face.

Reeve's gaze had turned back to him in the middle of his comment, her mismatched eyes glared at him darkly, the corners of her mouth turned down slightly. There was something different about her that he hadn't noticed at first, on her right forearm there were thin lines of black ink that wrapped themselves around her flesh. He'd seen the tattoo many times when he'd gone in to get his own done, a tree ring, circles that followed the outline of more circles. It was a small spot on her otherwise pale skin, probably only an inch, and a half in diameter, it contrasted greatly against normally clear complexion. The stain of dark ink made her look older, and somehow more mature, as she stared him down. Eric found himself wondering how she would react if he had her in his grasp, and was to trace each circles individually until he made it to the last ring. Would she squirm, and shiver against him? Or would she give him what he wanted, and let that crimson color dust across her cheeks again.

Either way, he couldn't bring his attention away from her form until he heard someone say the name that was heavy on his own tongue.

"How's your head, Reeve?" Malachi asked, before wandering over to the red heads side.

"Well enough to not need pain killers," she mumbled, tearing her gaze away from Eric's own cold stare.

"And here I thought you were becoming addicted," the medic laughed.

"Hardly," she responded, before turning her attention to Christina, as she wished Will good luck.

Eric watched the two of them for a second, wondering why he now felt so angry that someone else was talking to the initiate. Reeve was allowed to speak to people freely, she'd done so since she arrived at Dauntless; although, she often chose not to converse with most people, because she saw them a waste of time. It shouldn't bother him that she spoke to other people, right?

"Fight," he snarled, when he noticed that the two transfers in front of him made no move to start.

It was a strange feeling, to be angry at someone for the simple act of speaking to another person. Although, it only mattered, because it was Malachi, a member of Dauntless Eric didn't exactly hate, nor like in any way, the man was simply useful, and needed. A person that Eric was glad to have under his command when needed be, there weren't too many initiates that come through the roof with medical background. For some reason, whenever he saw Malachi next to Reeve it made him bitter towards the man, he didn't like it.

The girl didn't even speak to the man all that much during training, she treated him the same way she treated everyone else. If he made a viable comment that she was interested in she would speak to him, but if it was worthless she said nothing. Apparently Malachi knew just what to say, because Reeve was talking more to the doctor than she had with anyone else.

Angry with himself for getting so worked up Eric squashed his own feelings, especially because they were confusing, and foolish to him. Why should he be angry that she was talking to other people, other guys? Why did she never speak to him like that?

"Alright it's break time," Eric finally shouted at everyone after another fight. "Meet at the train in three hours for War games," his voice pierced through everything.

Again, the emotion found him when Reeve, Christina, and Will left with Malachi towards the medical bay; he said something that made the other girl laugh while the red head offered him a suspicious glance. It was a playful expression that Eric had not yet seen the girl make, because she was always on guard around the leader it was hard to get anything, but shock or irritation from her. Only once had he ever gotten her to blush, and that had been by accident. Why did they get to see more of her emotions than he did?

The next time he saw Reeve she was alone, her friends had already jumped aboard the train before her, and she had to run for a moment before her hand found the bar it was looking for. Easily she slung herself inside where Will was waiting to give her a hand up, she didn't take it, but the boy latched onto her shoulder anyway. He saw her stiffen under the other initiates touch, and shrug him off before shying away from him as much as she could. Will didn't seem to notice, but Eric did. It reminded him of all the times he'd been near to her, and she'd shivered at the closeness of their skin.

It was obvious that she didn't like to be touched, how he hadn't realized it before was a mystery. That was the reason why she was always so anxious to get away from him, or refuse help from anyone that was in contact with her. It was the reason behind her blush when he'd been helping her to the medical ward, she'd been surprised; more than anything she'd wanted to get away from him, because it was uncomfortable for her.

He grinned darkly at his new discovery, and wondered when he could test it out. Perhaps during the game he would find her alone, and try something else. From the middle of the train car Eric saw the stiff get pulled on board by Four, as far as he knew the girl was done, and should be out on the street. Yet she was back here, being stubborn, and not giving up like any other Dauntless inside the compound.

"Who let you out?" he questioned, breaking up the mild chatter between the stiff, and her friends. Reeve was giving him a wary look, as if she knew what was coming next, but perhaps it was time to surprise her again.

"I did," Tris replied, blandly.

"You did," he let his eyebrows raise slightly. They held each other's gaze for a second before he spoke again."Okay," he said before turning away from them slowly.

Reeve watched him walk back towards the other side of the train car; he'd been staring at her for a second with a mischievous look in his eyes before showing her his back. She was happy that Tris was staying, but somehow felt like she was missing something.

"The game is simple," Four explained, while placing two black objects on the floor. "It's like capture the flag," he glanced, towards Tris, and the rest of them for a second.

Eric was the next to step up, rolling open the black fabric to reveal red weapons that were made to look like guns, but seemed to hold no bullets. The leader picked one up lazily, as if he'd been handling them his whole life, and knew exactly what to do with the thing.

"Weapon of choice," he held it up for everyone to see. Only when Molly made a snide comment did he demonstrate how to use it by shooting her in the leg, showing everyone how comfortable it was in his hands. The transfer grunted in pain, and held her screams back carefully, falling against the side of the train, and looking at the small spot that a dart was sticking out of her leg. Eric leaned down, and snatched the thing from her skin. "Neurostim darts, stimulates the pain of a real gunshot wound, only lasts a couple minutes," he explained, relishing in their shocked faces.

Reeve didn't offer him anything; her expression was as bland as ever, as far as she was concerned, as long as she didn't get shot there was nothing to worry about. Even if somehow someone were to get her, it wasn't like she hadn't felt pain before, she'd deal with it.

"Two teams, Four, and I are captains," Eric said, glancing at everyone. This year he wanted to win, after he got the flag from Four's base the plan was to find Reeve, and see just how much she hated being touched. First he had to ensure that he wasn't going to lose again this year, because he was a Dauntless leader, and Four was nothing compared to him, there was no reason for him to lose. Immediately Eric's mind was clouded with where he should hide the flag ,and which guys he should put on his team.

"You pick first," Four said, as if to give the man a head start. Reeve could tell that Eric was excited to finally be able to beat out his rival, she was just happy his gaze had left her for a while.

"Okay," he muttered, "Edward."

"I'll take the stiff," Four spoke catching Tris, and Christina's attention.

"Ohh, picking the weak ones so you have someone to blame when you lose," Eric tried to find his reasoning. If there was anything he was certain of today, it was that if he picked the better fighters be would win. He'd make Reeve stay in the back, and guard the base so when they won he could find her easily.

"Something like that," Four responded, with a small smile.

"Peter," Eric chose the next one.

"Reeve," Four said with a grin.

Eric almost growled, he hadn't been expecting the other captain to pick Reeve, she was small, and fierce, but didn't seem to like negotiating with other people. He hadn't thought about what he would do if Four decided to pick her on his team; he'd been too focused on where to hide his flag, and how he was going to take the other man out.

"Molly," he finally sneered.

In the back of the train Reeve wanted to sigh in relief after Four chose her to be on his team, she'd assumed her name would be the first one out of Eric's mouth. Four certainly knew how to piss the other man off.

When they were in the middle of a dark deserted road Four stopped them short, and had them turn off their lights before asking them what their strategy was. That was when the whole team exploded; everyone started talking over top of each other, and couldn't seem to make up their mind. Reeve barely noticed Tris, and Four slip away, and move an old Ferris wheel. When she was younger Lou had shown her a picture of them in an old book. Once upon a time when the lights probably lit up at night, and carried happy excited children with their parents, but now it was just an empty shell.

Not wanting to just hang around, and listen to the others argue Reeve pushed past the people next to her to jog down the road.

"Where are you going?" Al yelled at her.

"To scout," she shouted, before turning a corner, and disappearing from their sight.

After about two minutes of walking through the abandoned buildings around her Reeve wished she had more time to just explore, and she almost didn't want to go back to her team at all. It was only when she heard someone shouting her name that she appeared back on the road everyone was sprinting down. They told her the new plan once she showed up, Reeve only had one goal in the siege upon Eric's base, to shoot the man in the leg, and walk away while laughing at him. That alone would feel like enough payback for everything he had been doing to her up until now.

"We're splitting into two groups, we'll go up towards the flag," Tris started to explain. As of current Reeve had been placed in the group with her friends, because she was quick and would more than likely be able to beat someone in hand to hand. "The others will stay down here to engage Eric," she motioned towards Four, and his own group.

"Can I change groups?" She suddenly spoke up surprising her friends, and their captain.

"Why?" Christina questioned, did she not want to be one of the people who helped capture the flag?

"I want to shoot Eric a few times," her answer made them laugh. Four clapped her on the shoulder and, pulled her towards his own group with a grin.

"Well we wouldn't want to keep you away from that."

Quickly they rushed towards their destination, and without too much warning there were darts flying everywhere, finding homes in peoples arms, and legs, or missing completely.

"Light them up," a voice shouted. The dark night sky lit up with red as Eric's team threw flares into the air so they would be able to see a little better. Some of their team stayed behind to make it look like they had been stopped in their tracks by the fire, and swarm of shots from the other team. Reeve didn't doubt that the person who'd shouted was Eric, he seemed like the type of captain who wouldn't let anyone else have input into the plan.

"On me," Four muttered towards them. Tris stayed next to the man while Christina, and Reeve followed closely behind until a few people from the other team split them up. The red head figured that she had a better chance at facing Eric if she stayed next to Four, and decided to follow him towards the mess of people in front of them. Perhaps if she came around the other side of the enemy she'd have more of an advantage.

Without too much thought she broke away from them, carefully dodging darts while making her way to the other side of the air vents that made good covers on the roof. She turned a corner sharply to run into someone from the other team, the woman was startled at first before fumbling to point her gun at Reeve who'd already pulled the trigger. Quickly she moved around the woman's shaking form as she slunk into the ground before someone took her legs out from under her. Angrily Reeve pulled herself to her feet before turning to snarl at the person responsible, her eyes narrowed darkly upon seeing who it was.

Eric smirked at her devilishly; she had to have the worst luck in the world to run into him alone. If anything she'd hoped to catch the man off guard while he was trying to hit Four. She'd shoot him in the shoulder, and laugh before leaving him to growl dangerously on the floor with three darts sticking out of his clothes. But of course that wasn't how things had happened, he'd found her instead, and even caught her by surprise in her attempts to claim the upper hand.

All at once she reached for her gun only to have the man knock it out of her hands, away from them, then aiming his own towards her shins. With a little bit of a struggle she was able to get his gun away from him; her eyes followed the red glint of metal as it fell in the gravel beneath their feet. Reeve started to throw punches at him, all of which he either dodged or merely brushed aside, and it was beginning to make Reeve angry, if he wasn't going to fight back what was the point of this? The next punch she threw at him was awkward, and threw her off balance, to her dismay she felt a hand close around her fist, and yank her forwards.

Strong arms closed around her form as Eric tightened his grip on her, she thrashed to get out of his hold. With the way that he had her restrained Reeve was flush up against his chest, her hands pushing uselessly against him as he leaned down to whisper something in her ear.

"You know what I found out today?" He questioned ,purposefully breathing onto her ear. She shivered, and trembled in his arms, trying her best to kick the man, though she was much too close to even get enough force going to hurt him.

Instead of answering she snarled at him darkly, a sound that made him chuckle. He looked down at her expression briefly to see an annoyed expression on her face, and she also seemed to be getting frustrated with him. He made her walk towards cover with him as a few darts zipped past them dangerously. So far there hadn't been any complications, but Eric was sure it would happen. He let his hand travel from restraining her shoulder towards the smooth skin of her neck, the pale flesh was just as welcoming as it had been the first time he'd seen it.

She hadn't answered him yet, but Eric hadn't expected her to, not when he was making sure that her form was flush against his own. He was happy to speak in her silence.

"You don't like to be touched," his voice was wispy on her skin.

"Wow," she grunted, while trying to twist his arms away from her. "You found out something pretty obvious, you must be proud of yourself," her voice turned icy against him. After all that the man had done now he was going to mock her for having such a pathetic weakness, Reeve was already pissed off at him for always picking on her. Now there was a whole new reason for her to be angry, yet for some reason she couldn't help, but blush at the feeling of his rough hands on her neck.

Eric knew it was a blatant weakness that he should have been able to figure it out sooner, but he'd been too focused on the subtle expressions that Reeve refused to show him, and everyone else for that matter. Even when he'd gotten right behind her on purpose he chose to ignore the small movement away from him in favor of relishing the shiver that crossed through her form like a wave crashing against shore. The first time he'd touched her the blush on her cheeks was too distracting for him to notice the way she squirmed in his grasp. Really, he should have figured it out sooner.

What Reeve, and Eric didn't know was that Four had turned around to have the younger girl lead the way only to see that she wasn't there. He assumed that she had gone a different route in search of her target, and didn't think anything of it until he saw Eric fighting with someone smaller than him, and jerk that person towards him crudely. He hadn't much cared for the girl at first, but after seeing the way she took care of all her friends without asking for anything in return, the way she helped them in silence, won him over. She was Tris's friend, and the least he could do was help her when she was outmatched.

One of Eric's guys jumped in front of him, Four quickly wrestled the man to the ground, and knocked him out with the butt of his gun before he aimed towards the ankle a few feet in front of him, and fired.

Before Reeve knew what was going on Eric growled darkly in her ear, and slumped towards the ground slightly, all she cared about was that his grip on her loosened considerably. Her gaze set into a determined glare while she took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best way to get away from the man behind her. She twisted fiercely in his hold with a small smirk on her face; Eric caught the movement too late, and tried to tighten his grip. Reeve responded by kneeing him in the crotch, something she had wanted to do ever since she'd seen him grin at her as if she was a mouse, and he was an eagle.

His powerful form crumpled to the ground while his gaze turned fiery, and ablaze as he glared at her. It made Reeve feel superior to him, if only just a little bit. Even as she heaved from the effort in front of him Eric noticed the small blush that was still disappearing from her cheeks, and in that regard he had been triumphant.

She moved away from him, and towards her discarded gun a second too late as he reached to grab her again, his hand closed tightly around her ankle, and he wasted no time in yanking her form backwards. At the same time Reeve's fingers linked around the handle of the dart gun in front of her. As he pulled her backwards she turned her body until she was on her back, and pointed the red barrel at his chest.

Eric was impressed that she had even managed to surprise him; although, whoever had shot him from behind had had something to do with that. If he found out who did it they would have hell to pay later, he'd had her in his grasp; the feeling of her smooth skin beneath his fingers had been so invigorating he wanted to scream in frustration at how close he had been.

"Finish him so we can go," a voice finally spoke from behind them. It made the leader want to snarl; he knew that voice anywhere, and didn't have to turn around to know that Four was standing behind them.

He glared at Reeve darkly, forming a new plan in his mind that he wasn't certain about, but if he were to threaten the transfer surely she would cave under his stern gaze.

"If you shoot me-," she didn't give him time to finish. In mid-sentence her eyes met his in a dead stare before she pulled the trigger, and shot him in the chest. In response he let go of her leg, and grunted in repressed pain. Reaching angrily to pull the dart out of his chest, and ankle, he looked up just in time to see Four grin at him before leading Reeve away, and towards where the flag was hidden.

She soon vanished from his sight, as he pulled himself into a sitting position against one of the vents behind him. Grinding his teeth together venomously, he wondered when would be the best time to grab her later. She wasn't going to get off easy for shooting him, he'd make her pay.

**.**

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><p><strong>AN: The next part of this story is going to be awesome... I can't get it out my head right now, bleh, maybe I'll just watch a bunch of movie trailers for an hour. I had to restrain myself from writing circles circled circles, because where it does make sense it sounds ridiculous.<strong>

**What did you think? Jealous Eric has just began to come to life, and yet he hasn't fully bloomed yet, that part comes later. Take a guess at what Reeve's punishment is going to be, I'm curious as to what you guys think will happen. It might just sway my decision as to what goes into the later chapters.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: It snowed today! That might not be exciting for you, depending on where you live, but it was fun for me, my sisters are hoping for a snow day. I'm just hoping my Serigraphy class gets canceled, fingers crossed. **

**You guys are awesome! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, it helps keep the creative juices flowing when I know a lot of people like it. Editing. This chapter was edited by the amazing Blackandwhiteangel13, and I also read through it to make sure it made sense. **

**This chapter focuses more on what happens in the book, where in the movie phase two happens right after capture the flag I have inserted a little leeway, and a couple other things. So if you've only watched hte movie and something seems different, it's because it was in the book.**

**Enjoy the chapter.**

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**Chapter Six**

**.**

"Reeve!" Christina's voice pulled the girl from her thoughts abruptly.

The night before had been awesome, their team had won capture the flag, and she'd finally been able to get Eric back for all the things that he'd done to her up until then. Shooting him in the chest had been so satisfying she'd smiled in her sleep at the memory, but morning reminded her of future turmoil she'd tried to repress.

"Are you nervous about visiting day?" Her voice persisted still.

"Collin's going to come," Reeve finally let her voice slip out.

They were sitting in the cafeteria, Tris and Christina on either side of the red headed girl who had been more quiet than usual that morning. Even when they'd congratulated her again on a job well done the night before she merely nodded, and let a grim frown form on her face. Although they hadn't been expecting her to grin, and laugh with them a small smirk would have been accepted as normal, but she was silent.

"Naaaah, I don't think he'll show up," Christina tried to reason with her. "Not after you left them so coldly without a second thought," she muttered taking a bite of a muffin. In response to her comment Reeve glared at her darkly.

It wasn't true, that she'd left her family without even thinking of them. It had been years ago that she'd convinced herself Erudite wasn't right for her. Ever since Collin had chosen to stay with his family Reeve had considered staying, if only to protect her siblings from the man that was no longer the one they had grown up with. She'd stare at the dark purple bruise on her arm. Reeve asked herself if she wanted anyone else to go through the same thing she did, and she didn't want them to.

At first she was able to persuade herself that there was no other option than to stay with her family. She couldn't abandon them for a life with parents who didn't care, and an older brother who tormented them. Then Lou left, and Collin was quiet for a little bit until he began to bear down on them all a lot more, he'd lunge at Elaine or grab his younger brother Theo by the back of the shirt. It had been her job to protect them, but those years took their toll on Reeve, and she had the scars to prove it.

After a while she started to get angry. Jumping in to protect her siblings and never fighting back had changed her. Every time Collin struck her and she couldn't say anything back, her voice would be raw the next morning from screaming into her pillow at night. At the time of her choosing ceremony she had been worried that her aptitude test would say Erudite, that she would listen, and stay where she was. Only to finally snap, and throw her older brother down the stairs, or knock him unconscious, because even though she had been weak, her temper had been strong.

Leaving Erudite had been the hardest thing she'd ever done, and at the same time the easiest.

"I left because I was getting stretched too thin, if I had stayed in that house one more week with him," when she spoke again her voice was low. Reeve's mismatched eyes hardened until they resembled the same expression that the girl had been making when they first met on the train, determined and angry. "I would've snapped," her cold voice made the other girls glance at each other warily.

"Did you kill someone?" Al laughed, catching the end of the conversation. He could sense the tension between the three of them, and was only trying to lighten the mood slightly.

"You can always punch him in the face if he shows up," Tris murmured with a small grin. Christina gaped over at her friend, first she had been the one to capture the flag, and now she was suggesting harming someone else.

"Whatever happened to you on that Ferris wheel, I like it," she laughed, pushing against Reeve in order to push Tris. The long haired girl shoved back, jostling Reeve in between them who offered a disgruntled frown that they chose to laugh at.

"But seriously," Will interjected, sitting down next to Al in front of them. "If we're talking about your brother," he faltered, until Tris nodded tentatively. "Just hit him in the throat," his comment made everyone, but Reeve, laugh. As far as fighting went for their red headed friend hitting people in the neck was her signature move, and although she did like to hear them choke, she wasn't going to admit that to anyone. "You know you've always wanted to," he grinned, before taking a bite of food.

"You're not wrong," Reeve mumbled.

-0-0-

"Tris and Molly, how about a rematch," Eric almost sneered as he said their names.

It was the last day of fighting before visiting day, and the start of phase two, mental training. No one was saying it, but they were all a bit relieved that they wouldn't be training to beat each other to death anymore. Although, Reeve's mind was a bit preoccupied with what the next day would bring she didn't fail to miss the dark expression Eric was sending her way. It made her smirk to see him so bitter and upset, probably about the night before, it reminded her that she had been successful in shooting the man. Although, there was a small part of her mind that told her to be careful, to stay away from him today. After all he had been about to threaten her before she'd completely ignored his words, and pulled the trigger.

"Technically you've already beat her," Christina muttered, as Tris passed by them on the way to the ring. The long haired girl looked ready, her eyes set in a hard stare as Molly walked up the other side. Reeve had a feeling they weren't going to be at the infirmary for their friend later, the thought made her smile softly.

"Who do you think going's to win?" Mal's voice said from behind. She glanced at him when he stopped next to her.

"Tris," she murmured to the doctor. He nodded thoughtfully in response before their conversation caught the attention of Four, who was standing a few feet away. Somehow Reeve had a feeling that the young man had some hidden feelings for Tris, even if the hints were subtle she could tell he cared for the girl.

"Why do you say that?" He asked, stopping on the other side of Reeve. On either side of her were two men who were much taller than she was, making her frown at the memory of her sister who was two years younger than her, but already taller. A silly memory that gave her a soft expression, as her mind went back to the conversation at present.

"Her eyes," she commented, making the two men glance at her friend's cold gaze. "She's not about to lose," her voice was stern.

"What does that say about you?" Mal questioned, glancing down at the red haired girl. Her grey, and green eyes looked up at him curiously, uncertain of what he was trying to get at. "You always have that look in your eyes," he chuckled. Reeve turned an icy, and irritated glare at the medic next to her, before throwing her body into his in order to throw him off balance. Four grinned next to her, while the Dauntless doctor only seemed to laugh harder.

"It says I'm not going to take any of your crap," she replied coldly.

"You do always seem to wear that expression," Four commented, making Mal nod at him in approval.

In between them Reeve crossed her arms bitterly, growling unkind words under her breath before turning her attention towards the fight that just started in front of them. Despite feeling worried for the next day, her mood had changed for the better after Mal showed up to mess with her, for some reason he seemed to like it. Sometimes the act reminded her of how Eric liked to pick on her, but this was different, and very similar to how her siblings had often made jabs at each other while they were growing up. They aimed to get the other person angry just for fun, if only to get an upset scream out of the person, and Collin had always been the easiest target. Whatever had been his aim Mal had successfully cheered her up, and if anything she was looking forward to possibly seeing Elaine tomorrow.

In front of them Eric was furious, not only was Reeve ignoring him completely, it seemed she was perfectly okay with Malachi, and Four surrounding her like dogs drawn to a slab of meat. She looked comfortable between them, as if this was a common thing that happened between them, he even saw her smile a few times. The only time Eric had ever seen the girl make that sort of expression was when she was smirking at him, getting ready to kick him in the crotch, or shoot him in the chest. He'd never been able to elicit such a soft smile, and quite frankly couldn't even imagine how to go about getting one of his own from her.

He hated her right now. To make him feel so worthless and inadequate compared to the two men across the ring from him. He was the Dauntless leader. Surely a medic, and a wimpy initiate trainer held no standing against him, and yet the one person who had taken his interest seemed adamant on provoking him. Reeve even went as far as shoving the doctor next to her playfully, something Eric had never even imagined she would do with him. Although, after seeing the way Malachi seemed to light up at the contact Eric wished he was the one by her side, instead of the gangly man currently there.

His own thoughts stopped him short, and his expression turned even darker towards Reeve. Never had he been one to wish something like that would happen for him. Usually, if he wanted anything he would go get it. Even if he had to pry it away from someone else, he was sure to rip it from their hands. Here he was wishing, he never wished. A wish meant that it might not happen; in fact wishes were more of an imaginary thing that people would mutter under their breath knowing it probably wouldn't come true.

Originally, he'd planned to make the top fighters in the class go up against him, which would include Reeve, to show them that just because they may be ranked top in their class they still had a long way to go. He was going to save the red headed girl for last, and then take his time beating her down. Touching her as much as possible in the process, if only to see a bit of crimson flash across her cheeks, to see her grit her teeth angrily, and the uncertain glint of awkwardness flash in her eyes had been something he was anticipating. After seeing two men on either side of his Reeve, such plans were blown precariously out the door.

The only thoughts rushing through his mind now were the ones screaming to finish the day quickly so he could get her alone, it didn't matter where, as long as she was by herself. If she was alone he would be able to take her down, and manipulate her with his hands, maybe this time when he touched her neck she would gasp. Even the image of Reeve shaking beneath his fingertips wasn't enough to satisfy Eric, he was too anxious, too bitter about the scene in front of him. Taking back what he originally thought about the girl speaking to others, if she was going to react like she just did, he was against it.

Letting a bitter frown carve into his features, Eric focused on the fight in front of him, doing his best to ignore the thoughts raging around in his head.

Across from the young Dauntless leader Reeve glanced over at the man just in time to catch his deep frown, noticing the way his gaze would sometimes flit in her direction. Reminding her of the threat he had begun to spit at her the night before, she hadn't let him finish, and gave it no further thought. Except now, she was staring at how angry he was, Reeve became a little uneasy. The only time Tris had spoken against him Eric punished her by having the girl fight Peter. It had caused her to be unconscious for about a day, and a half.

What did that mean for her?

It meant that she was going to stay as far away from him as she could manage. There was the option of hanging out with her friends for the rest of the day, and even at night, but Reeve had never been one to hang around people even if they were her friends. Or perhaps she could loiter around Mal, and hope to find something to occupy her time, as long as she didn't see Eric she should be fine, right?

It wasn't really a surprise, but Tris won, Four left Reeve's side to stop Tris from completely beating her opponent to death, and Mal moved to help Molly to the medical bay. Although, she didn't like the girl all that much Reeve wasn't about to leave herself open for confrontation from a certain someone, so she decided to help. A burning gaze watched her step forward to dab at the blood that trickled out of the injured initiates mouth, Molly was a little shocked to see her step up at all.

"I thought you didn't like people," hazel eyes chuckled at her.

"Oh stuff it," she growled, glancing back at Eric for a second. He was glaring at her darkly, and although Reeve didn't react to his hard expression she had to fight against the urge to smirk at him as she walked away. Certainly an act like that would do nothing, but rile him up even more; in turn making her life at Dauntless more difficult than it had to be.

After tending to Molly they came back to help Myra who had fought against Drew, she was out of it with a bit of blood trickling down the side of her face. Without too much thought, Reeve took off her jacket, and used it as a makeshift bandage. It was something she would do at home if anyone ever hurt themselves. It was just clothing, things that didn't matter in the long run if the deciding factor had to do with someone's health. What she didn't notice as they were walking back to the infirmary was the small amount of gazes on her skin as she was leaving, as the tan top did little to hide the thin lines of a tattoo peeking from underneath.

Mostly it was Will, and Peter who were wondering what the rest of the tattoo looked like, and if they would ever get to find out; Eric had noticed something different. There was something about the tattoo's that she had gotten that bugged him, so far he had seen three tree rings. One of her right forearm, one on her left ankle, which he had seen the night before during capture the flag, and now there was one on her back. If he knew the red haired girl at all he was certain that nothing she did was random, there was something about where the ink was placed that made him wonder.

It also made him think about something else, the way her pale skin contrasted so starkly against the black lines of the tree ring was almost sensual for him. It made him think about the clear skin of her neck, untainted, and smooth. There was a new urge within him that needing squashing down; though perhaps, the only way to rid himself of it was to complete it. He would need Reeve for that.

After lunch, and more training, Eric announced that they were done for the day, and not to forget that visiting day was tomorrow. Christina pulled Reeve over to the ranking board to see where they were at, Tris was more than proud to see her name above the red area, mostly due to her performance in capture the flag. Reeve was next to Will, near the top of the rankings, while Al, and Christina were somewhere in the middle.

Thankfully, Christina was taking the lead, and proceeded to pull all her friends towards the cafeteria for dinner. Usually, they would eat, then wander around for a couple hours before going back to their shared living quarters to pass out, tired from a long day of training; but today had been the last day of phase one. Al and Will, didn't hesitate to cheer, and grin at everyone as they all nestled into a steady thrum of chatter, telling stories about how wary they had been, and who they still wanted to beat up. Mostly it was Christina, and the boys talking at each other, occasionally Tris would make a comment or two, but Reeve just didn't care for menial talk.

They'd only passed the first round, there was still another phase to get through, and already they were celebrating. Perhaps it did feel good to get past part one. Did they really need to shout about it though? Really, it came down to how much Reeve enjoyed the company of other people in comparison to just one person who was able to hold a decent conversation with her. In which case, she could only think of a couple people in Dauntless, whom she had met anyway, who had held her interest for longer than they were in front of her.

Mal and Four. Although, Four was a tentative conversation partner, because he'd only just decided that the red haired girl was worth his time, Reeve had responded in kind.

She found it rather boring, to sit next to people who were obviously excited to have passed, but still feel so nonchalant.

Instead of listening to her friends drabble on, and on, about how they should throw Peter off into the gorge she snuck away from them in favor of going towards the medical ward. When she was with Mal he would sometimes let her take care of the next wounded person that came in, if only to make fun of her for doing something wrong. He excelled at making her angry, but it was more fun than what her colleagues deemed a good waste of time.

She hadn't seen Eric since they had left the training room, which was either a good thing or a bad thing. With the young Dauntless leader it seemed anything that had to do with him was a bad thing, the fact that she was even wondering where he was at the moment couldn't be anything good.

Pushing the man from her thoughts Reeve entered the infirmary quickly, half expecting to see Mal lounging in one of the beds trying to catch some extra sleep. He often said that most of the time the cots in the medical ward were more comfortable than the ones they issued new members of Dauntless, he claimed his was awful. Instead of being greeted by the usual hazel eyed trickster that was Mal, all Reeve could find was a note with almost cryptic handwriting that she assumed read, be back in ten.

The least she could do while she was here was check on Myra, they'd put her in one of the back rooms that morning, because the beds in the front were occupied by a handful of random initiates who had been injured the night before. Apparently, some people got really into capture the flag, and beat the other team a little more than needed. Reeve didn't have anything against Myra, even when they had lived in Erudite the girl had never be mean to her, it just so happened she was friends with a bunch of butt heads. Imaginably, if they had met before Collin had gotten bad there would have been a bit of benevolence between them, but they hadn't.

Her room was empty, which meant that she was well enough to get out of bed, or one of her friends had come to help her get up. Either way, it meant that she again had nothing to do until Mal decided to come back. She didn't think about it at first, but somehow it was strange that there was absolutely nobody in the med bay at all, almost always there was at least one person passed out in a random bed.

Reeve hadn't even heard anyone moving behind her, before she felt someone shove her into the room forcefully. Hearing the door slam shut she turned around with a growl to see Eric smirking down at her triumphantly, his eyes hard and angry as he stared at her form in front of him.

"You should have stayed with your friends in the dining hall," his voice was low, and husky.

"What do you want?" She questioned, turning to walk away from him towards the other side of the small room. It was just big enough to have a bed, a shelf with bandages, and a chair in it, Reeve chose to sit in the chair, and stare up at the man defiantly.

"Just a rematch," he said, letting his eyebrows rise in fake innocence. "Last night was hardly fair; if Four hadn't shot me I would've won," he muttered. It sounded like he was trying to reason with her, but Reeve had already tired of the conversation.

"Are you sure about that?" She let a smirk play on her lips. Eric froze for a second in front of her before taking a few threatening steps towards her. "Of course you would have won, you're twice my size, although you are a little slow," she murmured. Even though she had done her best to avoid the man he had caught her, and since there didn't seem to be any room for an escape the least she could do was mess with him a little bit. "Perhaps, it's your hobby to beat up the weak," she stood up slowly, as Eric began to walk towards her again. The way they were dancing around each other with their words reminded Reeve of all the times she messed with Collin, save he was much easier to anger than Eric.

"Weak," he grinned at the word. "That would be true if we were talking about Christina," he stopped, a step away from her with a sneer on his face. "I'll give you a chance," he said, making Reeve look at him curiously. "If you can open the door I'll let you go," he sounded playful.

Without a second thought Reeve lurched towards the wall next to them, and pushed off of it quickly, giving herself quite a bit of momentum that caught Eric by surprise for a second before he recovered. He'd been expecting her to go for the throat, but instead he dodged just in time for her to miss his shoulder while he tried to knock her off balance. Much to Reeve's frustration Eric was very good at blocking every punch she threw at him, and yet he wasn't throwing any of his own. If he wasn't going to fight back, then why was he even here in the first place?

For a moment, it seemed as though he finally had a hold on her wild form, he'd wrapped his arm around her neck, and drew her backwards until his chest met her shoulder blades. Thinking he had the victory already Eric moved to whisper something in her ear, before teeth dug into his forearm viciously. Grunting in pain, he threw Reeve away from him, taking a glance at her mouth as she grit her teeth together anxiously, she'd not hesitated to use everything in her arsenal against him. The act made him smirk all the more, as they stared each other down before moving towards one another once again.

Finally, it seemed like one of her kicks was going to hit its target on his ribs, but he grabbed it at the last second, and pushed her backwards until she hit the wall. He was upon her at once, grabbing her thin wrists, and pinning them to the wall easily while she struggled against him ferociously.

"Did you call me slow?" He mocked. She snarled, dangerously, and didn't fail to notice that right behind him was the foot of the bed. If she could force him to take a step back, even if it was a small one he would lose his balance, and there would be enough time to make it to the door. What she could do right now was give Eric what he wanted, for her to give up, and let him do whatever he wanted until she could strike.

"What if I did?" She questioned, in a breathy voice.

Eric had to stop himself short; the tone that her voice had taken made something within him stir anxiously. He'd watched all of her fights during training, waiting for something about her indifferent demeanor to slip, and fall away. When it had happened the change had been subtle, a small difference that twisted the curve of her lips in a strange direction, but it had been enough to sate his curiosity. Now as he looked down at the girl in front of him, he got to hear the soft sound of her voice and how it washed up to his ears something changed.

It was the feeling of how everything after this moment, that had been sufficient before, would no longer be good enough to satisfy him. It was surprising to him, the strength that Reeve had shown him in her struggle to get away, the ferociousness that made her bite him to get away. There were teeth marks in his skin. That had given him a moment of pain, but he couldn't help but think of how her lips had been on his skin, someone so unwilling to touch other people had lashed back against him so strangely. It reminded him of a wild animal, doing anything within its power to get away, but the girl in front of him no longer looked so rabid.

"You bit me," his voice was raspy. The way Reeve responded to such a comment made him shiver, her tongue flitted out to lick her lips quickly, as if to get rid the taste of his flesh on her taste buds.

"You taste bad," she muttered, letting a disgusted expression twist the side of her mouth. He chuckled at her answer, and liked the way her face had changed as a reply to his voice; did he have to let her go at some point?

He tried to think of something else to say that would make her lips quirk towards another angle, but there was nothing that came to mind. Instead he moved one of her wrists to the other hand, and reached towards her, aiming to run his hand up near her ribcage. That was when she jerked forward, and he moved away just as quickly, her goal had been to head butt him, but he'd moved away just in time. Still the back of his legs caught the bed behind him, and he went toppling down, while on the floor he grinned at how unexpected it had been. Even pinned down in his grip Reeve did not cease to amaze him.

Immediately, she moved towards the exit, and he launched forwards to follow. She'd just gotten her fingers on the handle when he crushed her against the door with his body, trapping her hands in front of her body. Eric hissed sharply into her ear as she writhed against him venomously.

"I was not expecting that," his voice rumbled against her. Reeve gasped softly at the sudden contact made, she could feel his heart thudding against her back, and the hardness of his chest on her shoulders. His hot breath ignited against her exposed skin, and she couldn't help the red fire that blazed across her cheeks, Eric only saw the way the tips of her ears turned crimson. Wanting to get more out of Reeve he leaned down into the smooth skin of her neck, the faintest touch of his chin on the nape of her shoulder made her freeze. He stayed in that position for a few seconds before moving up towards her earlobe, his eyes were trained on her expression, but all he could see was the vacant look in her eyes. As if what he was doing was something she was used to, and could easily ignore, but he knew better than that.

For a second his eyes strayed down the pale flesh of her neck before he let his mouth close around the spot he had chosen to mark. Beneath him Reeve made a small sound of protest, something that sounded foreign to Eric, but stirred him on all the more as he bit down on her sensitive skin. Making sure that when he was done there would be something to be seen, and to show others not to mess with Reeve because she belonged to someone else.

Reeve didn't know what to do, always she had an answer for things, ignore it, fight it, laugh at it, do something, anything. At the moment there was nothing going through her mind except the feeling of the man behind her, the sensation of his wet tongue on her skin made her blood heat up at an alarming rate. There was nowhere to go, no room to hide in away from him, she was trapped against him, and couldn't help but feel his teeth nipping, and grazing against her skin.

Something like this had never happened to Reeve before, in Erudite people didn't generally want to talk to her or ask her if they could be friends. Her family was really the only people she had ever gotten close to. Even then she only really liked her younger siblings, Lou, and maybe the occasional teacher at school. Otherwise, it didn't matter to her, companionship didn't really seem to be necessary, but being in Dauntless had changed that, here there were people that challenged her old lifestyle. The only thing was that she wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing. Or a bad thing at the moment.

He bit her roughly again, drawing Reeve from her thoughts with a small whimper that she muffled almost right away, finally Eric pulled away from her after what felt like years. The place where his mouth had been felt cold, saliva glistened on her skin, and even though he had done relatively nothing to her Reeve felt like she had been ravished.

She was a small fox trying to get away, and Ha was an eagle who had seen the perfect moment to dive down for a kill.

"If you bite me, I'll bite back," he rasped, making Reeve jump slightly at the tone. His voice sounded low, urgent, as if he couldn't wait for something to happen next.

Instead, he wrapped his arm around the front of her form, and pulled her backwards with him slowly until they had moved enough for him to pull the door open. In a last ditch effort of defiance Reeve twisted in his grip, and pulled out of his hold on her. Growling softly she launched herself through the door, and out of his sight. Eric chuckled into the sudden emptiness around him; the tingle of his lips was a satisfying feeling after seeing the redness of where he'd latched onto her neck.

That small bit of skin that had been so inviting to him, so open for someone to mark up with bites, and bruises, had been tainted.

-0-0-

That night Reeve couldn't sleep, she'd bypassed all her friends, even Mal, who had run into her when she had been fleeing away from the medical bay. Her hand kept traveling up to her neck whenever she thought about what Eric had done to her not three hours sooner. It made her body heat up to think about the way his lips, and tongue had felt on her skin. Even in the dark, wrapped in her blankets, Reeve could feel her face flare up.

When she woke the next morning Reeve was groggy, after tossing, and turning in rage, and embarrassment for hours she'd finally gotten to sleep, the dreadful leader plagued her dreams. It was still early when she walked into the clothing store, hoping to find something that would cover the spot on her neck that Eric had tainted with his touch. The only other person in the vicinity was the woman with long blonde hair folding shirts near the front door; she greeted Reeve briefly with what looked like a tired expression on her face.

In the back there was a small shelf with six different solid colored bandanas, red, green, blue, black, pink, and brown. Almost immediately, she reached for the black one only to be stopped when the store clerk came over with a dark brown long sleeved cardigan that was lined on the inside with a silky dark blue fabric.

"I think this would look awesome on you," she said holding it up for the redhead to see. "Oh, wow," she stopped short upon seeing Reeve's mismatched gaze. "I was going to say to pick the green one to match your eyes, but there's only one green one isn't there?" She laughed good naturedly.

"Maybe the blue then?" Reeve questioned, taking the cardigan between her fingers. "To go with the blue inside," she said, reaching towards the piece of cloth. All of the colored clothing around them was on the darker side, like all clothing in Dauntless it would be easy to hide in the dark.

"Oh, that would look nice," she muttered, as Reeve slipped the sleeves over her arms. "Let's see," she murmured, while the initiate in front of her tied the cloth around her neck. "Here," she motioned over towards a body length mirror resting on the wall.

The bandana did its intended purpose, and hid the mark on her neck while the dark brown cardigan fit snugly on her form warming her arms nicely. There were even pockets that she could drop her hands into, she'd never been one that liked shopping or even going to get new things, but it felt good. It was less constricting than her training jacket, and still felt like decent protection against the cold draft in the room.

"With that gaze, you're sure to catch someone's eye," she flipped her long hair away from her face, showing off her long locks.

"Oh, I hope not," Reeve responded, a little sarcastically. It made the woman smile, and Reeve thought it ironic, but did not mention that much her to prolonged dismay she had already caught someone's attention.

Everything after getting her clothing seemed to blur together until she was looking down at the pit that was teeming with people wearing different colored clothing from all of the other factions. Christina, and Will went in front of her before Reeve started walking towards the small section of people clothed in blue. She immediately recognized Elaine who was running towards her with a smile on her face, her eyes scanned the crowd for anyone else who looked familiar before her eyes stalled on the familiar features of her brother. He had the same stiff shoulders that pulled back strictly whenever he was talking to someone, the same sharp angle of his nose, and wild curliness of his hair. He was chatting with what appeared to be Edwards parents, as the other initiate came up to greet his family.

"He wouldn't let anyone else come," Elaine's voice found her ears as she enveloped the girl into her arms. "Mom and dad were too busy," she muttered, glancing around at everything curiously. "I barely recognized you with this haircut, I always knew you would look better with short hair," she mused, with a grin on her face.

"Me too," Reeve returned the expression. Her stare turned back towards where Collin was still wrapped up in his conversation before she turned away, and took Elaine's hand in her own. "Let's talk somewhere else," she spoke softly to her sister. They'd almost made it around the corner when the man she hated more than anything called out to her.

"Are you really going to run away without greeting your brother?" He shouted after her. Reeve's soft expression turned dark, and cold as she turned to look at her older sibling. "Don't you think that would be a little cruel Samantha?" He questioned, with a dangerous smirk on his face.

"That's not my name anymore," her voice was icy. "And I won't answer to it," instinctively, she pushed Elaine behind her when he stopped a few feet in front of her. At first the other visitors had stopped to see who Samantha was, but seeing it was Reeve they turned back to their own conversations.

"What did you change it to?" Elaine asked, sheepishly from behind her.

"Reeve," she muttered, as if it was common knowledge.

"I like i-," Collin cut the younger girl off.

"Was something wrong with your old one?" He asked letting his eyes darken towards her.

"Yeah," her voice earned a more playful tone. "You ruined it," she offered him a cold stare. After what she had been through during Dauntless training she was no longer afraid of what would happen to her. She could handle it. His expression fell at her words, and his hand shot out to grip her upper arm tightly, it was a familiar feeling that she had not missed the past few weeks away from home.

"Watch how you speak to me," he whispered, so the others around him could hear nothing of their conversation.

"Not here," Elaine hissed bitterly.

"You're right," he tightened his grip on her. "Let's go talk somewhere else."

**.**

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><p><strong>AN: So? What did you think? Do you like the Reeve and Eric development? I must have spent at least two days trying to figure out how he finally cornered her, 48 hours of staring off into space and ignoring my teachers.<strong>

**You also met Collin finally, he's such a butt face.**

**Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought of the chapter.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Happy Valentines day people! I made a bunch of truffles and gave about forty away, there are still about thirty in the house that we;re getting sick of. I hope you all are having a grand day, and if not go out tomorrow and buy half off candy, that's what I'm going to do. Also, perhaps this chapter will help to make the day better? Maybe?**

**Thank you so much for reviewing, sorry it took so long. I got caught up in printmaking and online classes, god I didn't want to write anything after reading a hundred pages of astronomy, film history, and sign culture. Although, I did finish it finally.**

**Blackandwhiteangel13 edited this chapter! I'm so thankful to have a beta reader, she's so amazing. T^T**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**Chapter Seven**

**.**

Collin had no idea where they were going. He kept finding people everywhere he went, and was beginning to get a little angry which made Reeve grin next to him.

"What's wrong? Can't find your way?" She asked, in a mocking voice. His grip tightened on her arm as his head jerked this way and that, trying to find a place that was void of other humans; finally he found a deserted hallway. He'd probably been hoping for a room, or somewhere he could hide them behind a wall, but this was the best he was going to find in a place he didn't know. Reeve recognized it as one of the many alcoves that they passed on the way to the tattoo parlor, and hair cutting salon. Perhaps there had once been a store that sat in here, but now it was gone.

Once they had stopped Reeve wretched her arm out of his grip venomously. Whatever he was trying to do with her, whether he was going to teach her a lesson or not, it wouldn't happen the way he wanted it to. Did he forget that she was a member of Dauntless now? Did he not know that she had been trained to fight people, and overcome the opponents bigger than her? Since she was no longer a member of Erudite, there was no reason to listen to such a sickening man as him.

"I'd expected better of you," he sneered, glaring down at her. "To have our parents come home alone, knowing that everything I had done to keep you in Erudite had been a waste. It made me a little sad," he muttered, with a hurt expression on his face. It made Reeve laugh shortly, and she watched his facial features change from fake hurt into genuine anger.

"After all you did, there was no way I was going to stay," she replied blandly. "Why they would ever keep such a sickening, vulgar, short tempered, and waste of space person like you is beyond me," her voice was cold.

He snapped in front of her; something she had dreaded while in Erudite, but made her excited here. Back then she couldn't defend herself, but now she had beaten men stronger than he was. Collin moved quickly to trap her against the wall, but she had been ready for that, and dodged away from the movement. When he turned to strike her she twisted his arm, and shoved him backwards; making the young man stumble, and try to figure out what he had missed. It didn't take him long to recover. Soon he was back at her, unable to land any hits, and only being successful in making his younger sister snarl at his many failed attempts.

"You can't threaten me anymore," she said, shrugging his fist away from her form.

Elaine had been quiet during the whole exchange. Watching them dive towards each other over, and over again, while she held her breath, and hoped for the best. Out of the corner of his eye Collin saw the long haired girl standing behind them, and an idea sparked in his mind. His next attack turned away from Reeve, and launched towards Elaine who merely gasped, and covered her eyes. Reeve reacted quickly and jumped in front of the girl in time to catch a powerful open palmed slap to her left cheek. There was no noise of pain or complaint that came from the red head, even when the blow had been strong enough to force her to the ground.

"Are you sure?" He laughed, "It definitely looks like I can."

"Let him hit me," Elaine whispered behind her. Reeve didn't react to her comment, instead letting her expression harden when she found that her lip was bleeding where her teeth had bitten it. She stayed where she was, after she'd left her younger siblings to deal with this monster by themselves, the least she could do was protect her when she was near. "After you left, mom and dad started to notice things again, if he hurts me they get mad at him," she explained.

"Shut up," Collin shouted in front of them. In seconds his hand tangled in Reeve's short hair, and pulled at it painfully making her hiss bitterly, and grit her teeth.

"You don't have to protect me anymore," Elaine shouted, trying to get in between them. "Mom and dad don't ignore us anymore, Collin can't do anything," she beat against her older brothers back uselessly.

"You hear that," Collin began.

In the past few years Reeve hadn't reacted much to his beatings, or even when he scarred her. She had been quiet, and endured it all with a blank look on her face. It was all true, after losing another child to a different faction their mother, and father decided that the only way they were going to keep the next few was to raise them more closely. If Collin wasn't a good enough teacher, or role model to follow they would have to fill in the cracks that he let show. In the end they didn't want to lose another child. It meant that finally Collin had something to use against Reeve, something that would hurt her more than any bash to the head ever had.

"That means they didn't care enough about you to come home, and see if you were okay," he sneered, pushing Elaine out of the way. "They're so happy that you're gone, now they can be proper parents, and care for their children. At least the children that matter anyway," he grinned devilishly. "It was those eyes; from the second you were born they knew that you were a freak. This," he jerked at her hair again, "was something they wish they'd never had."

"Reeve that's not true, they just," their younger sister faltered with her words.

She didn't know what to say, because there was a bit of truth in what Collin was saying; Only after the red head had left did their parents even try to care about their kin. Her parents had always figured that the girl was going to stay. With all the books she read, the thirst to know more, there was no question about whether or not she was going to stay in Erudite.

"They just didn't know what was going on. Mom and dad just didn't know how to take care of you," she tried to explain, but it didn't help in the slightest.

"I don't care," Reeve spit out at them. "I stopped thinking of them as my parents a long time ago, I don't care," she seethed, at her brother. "I'm just happy that a useless dog like you is subdued. You're right, I wasn't something they wanted, but it doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that I never scrounged up the guts to kill you in your sleep, to end your pathetic life," her voice was icy, and it made Collin freeze.

Looking down at his sister he saw that she was glaring up at him, there was a fiery vengeance in her eyes, that made a shiver travel down his spine. He'd never seen such an expression on her face before. She looked ready to spring up from his grip, and tear him to shreds.

"Well," Collin grinned suddenly, and threw Reeve to the ground. When she moved to get up he stepped on her hands, and reveled in the small crackling sound her knuckles made against the cement floor beneath them. "Go ahead and try, you were so weak, and worthless back then. I'm sure not much has changed," he mused.

He glanced down at Reeve with a grin on his face, ready to spit down at her when the expression in her eyes made him freeze; her eyes had hardened into a dark glare. This was not the same girl he'd thrown around the house after a frustrating day at work. The woman beneath him was weary, and thickened from what she had been through the past weeks, and years of her life. Before she felt molded into his hands like clay, he could tell her what to do, and to a certain extent, she would listen to him. Such was not the case anymore. The wild gaze she had trained on him was proof enough of how much she had changed.  
>For a long time Reeve had been afraid to fight back for fear that Collin would turn around, and find her younger siblings in order to get revenge. She'd done the best she could, and protected them from him, because her parents were always off doing something else; not even bothering to ask where she had gotten such a big bruise from. She had people to care for, which caused her to be weak, but now that her parents were finally paying attention to their children it was different. Everything that the man above her had done in the past boiled up to the surface, and with such a devilish grin on his face how could she not snap?<p>

With a vicious yell she arched her back below him, and twisted in her pinned down state, until she was able to kick him in the leg, and force his feet away from her hands. The moment he stumbled away from her Reeve lurched to her feet, and threw herself at Collin quickly. Dodging a slow attempt at a punch, her hand connected with his neck. He gagged in front of her, and slunk backwards to get away, looking up at his younger sister in time to see her smirk at his pain, he felt a shiver wash over his skin.

Reeve watched his expression change from baffled, to enraged as he started towards her again. This time a little faster than before, now that he knew she wouldn't hesitate to fight back. His knuckles barely brushed her shoulder before a small fist found his stomach, and her knee found his ribs. Collin did his best to retaliate, and ended up grabbing at her hair again, wrenching her body towards the rocky wall behind them. Instead of letting herself crash into it, Reeve warped her body around until Collin had to release her. The burning pain of her scalp did not slow her down, as she jumped towards the wall. Pushing off of it powerfully, she landed a fist straight into her brother's face, his head jerked backwards, and he fumbled towards the ground.

"Did you call me weak?" She seethed.

In front of her Collin sat up, and wiped a bit of blood from his lips. He merely smiled at her as if they had an argument, and he had just won. It made Reeve bitter to see him looking so triumphant, even though he had been the one to take a beating. Her gaze was cold, as she walked up to where he was sitting on the ground. Her fingers wrapped tightly into the fabric of his shirt before she pulled his face up to meet her own. He spit in her face, and smiled, showing her his bloody teeth, and devious expression.

"Sam, please stop," Elaine said, next to her softly.

In the heat of the fight Reeve had forgotten all about their younger sister, who was gasping, and closing her eyes trying to block the noises of punches out of her mind. It was not something Reeve had ever wanted her sister to see, which was why she'd always been the first one to greet Collin whenever he had gotten home. She'd always made sure that her siblings were nowhere in sight, whenever their brother was irritated. The name she'd called her made Reeve stiffen. It wasn't the one she had chosen for herself, it was the one she'd never hoped to be called again.

"That's not my name," she hissed, getting ready to hit Collin again.

Here in Dauntless, she had earned the right to be called something different than what she had been given at birth. This was her home now, and she didn't want anyone to know what her name used to be.

"Reeve," a new voice caught her attention. She froze before turning towards the entrance of the shallow room; Four was standing with his back to the light, giving her a stern glare that made the girl bare her teeth at him. "That's enough," he said shortly.

She let go of her brother, and straightened. Then tearing off her blue bandana, and wiping off her bloody spit covered face she looked at the deep blue color of it. Suddenly sickened by the dark hue Reeve threw the piece of cloth at her brother, wondering why she had ever picked it in the first place without remembering where she came from.

"Thanks for coming to visit me, tell the twins I said hi," she muttered, regaining her indifferent attitude. Four was surprised by how quickly she could turn around, and at the same time enraged by what he saw. Reeve gave her sister a small hug before walking towards Four, once the light hit her face he could see a red mark on her face where she'd been hit, and a bit of blood where her lip had split open.

"See you later, Samantha," Collin said cheekily.

Four was about to say something to the red head in front of him, before she pushed past him and made her way towards the training room. The Dauntless trainer stared after her small form for a second, before his attention turned on the two Erudite visitors who had been Reeve's family. Somehow, the scene was familiar to him, and made his heart ache at the memory. To think Reeve had gone through the same thing, it wasn't a pleasant similarity.

He followed her, after staring down at the blue clothed siblings for a few seconds. When he got to the training area she was already in the back by the targets. A steady thud could be heard as she threw knife after knife into the wall. Each blade striking the throat, head, or chest. He approached only when she moved to retrieve them.

It was quiet, except for the sound of knives being thrown. Four was silent company, he understood that she didn't want to have anyone talk to her. Words didn't help in this situation, none of that did anything for her, or anyone for that matter. It only made the person speaking feel less awkward about stepping into such an emotional event; it was the silence that people usually feared to be stuck in that she relished.

"Thanks for stopping me," she finally spoke.  
>Her hands faltered with the knives, as she gazed down at the one in her fingers. At first she had wanted to yell at Four to leave her alone, but found that the company, even if it was silent, made her comfortable. As if he knew what she was going through, he wasn't speaking to her, or asking if she was okay, no apologies, just watching, and understanding.<p>

"You're welcome," he replied softly.

They stayed like that for a little while before Four excused himself. Wondering why he had stayed with the red head so long in the first place, if only to watch her throw knives into targets. Perhaps it was because he saw so much of himself in what she was going through, he couldn't just leave her alone. In the end if there was someone that could have been there for him when he had been going through everything, he would have wished for them to stay, and keep him company. He hadn't expected to care about the girl at first, but now after he found out what she had been through, it was hard not to.

Reeve switched from knives to the punching bag quickly after Four left, working out her frustration just as she had done before. It would have been better if no one had come to visit her at all. Her anger would have stayed at a constant for her brother, and she wouldn't have had to find out about what changed. Now she knew that without her everything was better, if she had never existed in the first place everything would have been fine.

She kept trying to convince herself that it didn't matter anymore, because she didn't have to go through with it anymore. Over and over she told herself not to think about it, with each fist thrown at the bag in front of her. Although, Reeve didn't want to admit it the words Collin, and Elaine had spoken to her cut deep. In the end she had persuaded herself to believe that her parents cared nothing for her, because it had been less painful that way. Knowing that it had actually been that way all along seemed to hurt more than she thought it would.

Every time she saw her parents with a new wound on her face or arms, they would look the other direction, as if she wasn't sitting in front of them at the dinner table or going to school in the morning. When Collin would throw her down the stairs, their ears seemed muffled to the sound of her body falling down the steps. The only time they seemed to speak to her was when she was hiding in her room behind a closed door.

A rather forceful punch that made her knuckles scream out in pain brought Reeve back to reality, she realized something for the first time. All the time she had been in Erudite, she'd thought she was hiding from her parents in the library or in her room. She'd skip their fleeting eyes, and they hurried to get out of the room. She hadn't been hiding from them; they had been hiding from her. As if she had been a mistake they were happy to be rid of, they could turn a blind eye to Collin hurting someone as long as it had been her. If Elaine got a bruise god forbid their older brother get away with it, from what she heard they were on him in a heartbeat. Not their precious little girl Elaine, it had just been her that he had been allowed to scar and hurt.

What shocked Reeve even more than such a thought, were the cold trails of tears that raced down her cheeks suddenly. Crying didn't solve anything. It was something she had learned early on after Collin started hurting her, no matter how many times she'd cried herself to sleep her parents failed to comfort her. She wasn't sad, no there was nothing sad about what she realized. If anything she was angry to have had such terrible parents, but her heart ached. It was a painful thought to know that up until a certain point her parents had cared about her, to know that if she had disappeared sooner it would have been better for everyone. That was where her agony was coming from, the knowledge that she should have vanished a long time ago.  
>At the same time she was just plain pissed off; there was no reason to cry now that she had left everything behind for good. She should be smiling, and feel as if a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders, but that was not the case. If anything Reeve wished she could go back to Erudite, for one hour just to tell her parents what she thought of them; although, she knew it wouldn't do her any good. It might make her feel a little bit better about herself, though probably not.<p>

The thought of seeing her parents faces when she showed up looking like a completely different person spurred a whole new batch of powerful punches that made her knuckles zing painfully. Her hands were already sore from when Collin had stepped on them, enough to be able to hear the bone crunching against the concrete beneath them. Now she was pounding away the pain as best she could, only stopping to watch a bit of blood seep from where her skin had split open from too much use.

"This looks familiar," she recognized Eric's voice immediately.

The night before her thoughts had been filled with how his lips had felt on her neck, the way he had taken her skin with his teeth, but her thoughts had changed rapidly. The events of visiting day caused her to almost completely forget about what had happened in the medical ward. Seeing the man responsible for the mark on her neck caused Reeve's cheeks to turn the slightest shade of red, she set her lips into a frown, and glared at the young Dauntless leader.

He smirked devilishly at her response, and moved closer to her form. Reeve had to remind herself that Eric was only picking on her because of the way she reacted. If she simply ignored him, eventually he would go away, is what she liked to continue to tell herself. Yet ignoring him was what had grabbed his interest in the first place. With a man like Eric it seemed that she just couldn't get it right, perhaps when she was finally a member of Dauntless they would assign her to a job that he would be unable to visit her at. Except that Mal had said she was going to be in the med bay with him. Which meant that anyone, and everyone in the faction could go to them for help with injuries, or when they were bored in Eric's case.

"Who got the better of you?" His mocking voice pulled Reeve from her thoughts. She sighed blandly, as if the man in front of her was asking something he should already know the answer to.

"It was visiting day," she replied, as if it was the correct answer for everything.

"I know," he muttered, not knowing what she meant.

For Reeve the comment she made revealed all. She'd once told the man about how she had to leave Erudite else risk finally snapping, and killing her older brother. Which had almost happened earlier that day anyway, if Four hadn't been there to stop her from continuing it could have ended badly. For Eric the response was cryptic, and didn't make any sense, of course he knew that it was visiting day. He'd been waiting all day for it to end so he could find Reeve, and figure out how well the events from the night before had worked out. Why did visiting day have anything to do with the way her face looked.

It almost made him angry, to see her lip split open. There were even tell tale signs of bruising on her left cheek from where he can only guess someone slapped her. At first he'd wondered when she had gotten into a fight, why he hadn't been there to watch the whole thing happen, but then he saw the stain on her neck. It was dark purple and red, appearing in stark contrast to her otherwise smooth, and pale skin. He licked his lips at the memory of Reeve squirming beneath him, the small sounds of protest that barely flitted off her tongue. A deep need surged within him to mark her again, because obviously one hadn't been enough if someone had touched her despite the discoloration on her neck.

They had to have seen it, yet still someone had gone and touched what wasn't theirs to mess with; perhaps it had been one of the other transfers trying to get the better of her. In which he would find them later, and see how well they could hold up against a leader of Dauntless. The only person that could pick on Reeve was him. The thought made him falter, and go still behind Reeve. How he had ever gotten to the point where Reeve almost belonged to him was a mystery. When she'd first arrived Eric couldn't stand the girl, how she was so unresponsive, and blank whenever he tried to bother her. Somewhat recently his feelings towards her had changed. Fairly rapidly he'd gone from wishing harm onto the girl, if only to see her reaction to reveling in every reaction he could get from her. Before he hadn't cared who touched her, but now it made him bitter to see her with someone else.

"So who was it?" The burning question in his mind broke free. Who was he going to have to pay a visit to?

"I already told you," she mumbled, glancing down at her bloodied knuckles as if he wasn't even there. After the day's events Reeve was tired, more than anything she didn't want to deal with Eric. She wanted to go eat dinner, have menial conversations with her friends, and then go to sleep. She didn't care that the man in front of her was a leader of Dauntless, she was still angry about what he had done to her neck.

"Reeve," he snarled out her name. Somehow it was strange, to hear him say what she had chosen to be called. After all the time that he had been messing with her, she couldn't remember a time when he called her that. The sound of it rolling off his tongue made her shiver at how angry he was, but there was nothing to be angry about. Whatever happened to her, whoever she fought with, it was none of his business.

In front of him Reeve seemed to shiver only slightly before her posture straightened, and she turned towards him with a dull expression on her face. There was nothing for her to say, and without even a quirk of her lips she was moving away from him. Eric reacted without thinking, reached out to grab her upper arm tightly, she sighed softly before looking back at him with the same plain look on her face. He didn't like that.

"What do your tattoos mean?" His new question surprised her, for whatever reason he wanted to know. Reeve was not against such a question in the long run, after all her friends already knew what they were hiding. In a way, if she answered this question it would also answer the one he had asked at the start of their conversation.

"They're covering scars," she said, before looking down at his hand on her arm.

Eric didn't fail to notice the way her eyes clouded with a pained expression, as if someone had a knife in her gut that they'd twisted. It was a new reaction that he'd not seen before, and somehow it made his blood boil. What could have happened that she looked like this whenever she remembered it?

"Are you going to let me go now?" She questioned, pulling gently at his grip. He let go quickly, and his eyes found the smooth skin of her neck once again. "You can always ask Four what happened," she muttered, turning to walk away from the man. Unknowingly snapping his attention back on her form in a heartbeat, Reeve knew he didn't care for the other Dauntless member, but she was unaware of the thoughts going through his mind. "He was there," she finished blandly.

Within moments Eric had her pinned to the floor; although, it was much like what her brother had done earlier that day, all thoughts of similarity left her mind at once. The leader above flipped the red head onto her back, and grabbed her wrists into one hand before pushing them above her form powerfully. After all the training she'd been through Reeve hoped that she would be a little more powerful against others, but such was not the case with Eric. He overpowered her as if she was a cat, and he was a lion. The difference between them was laughable, and made the transfer wish she had run from the training room when she had the chance.

"Four was there?" He seethed, stopping any movement of her legs with his own.

Reeve didn't answer, just because he was stronger than her didn't mean she had to answer to him. There was nothing for him to use against her to make her speak, she was mostly curious as to why the man cared so much whether or not the other Dauntless member was there in the first place. Four had helped stop her, and stayed with her when she didn't even know she needed the company, it was more than Eric would ever do for her.

"I guess I have to give you another one," he hissed leaning down onto her body. Eric relished the feeling of her form against his own, the way her eyes never strayed from his made him lick his lips in anticipation. He knew as soon as his mouth was on her skin, her hard exterior would slowly crumble, and she would tremble beneath him.

Too caught up in his own thoughts Eric was unprepared for the surprise attack that Reeve managed to get on him, she pulled her leg out from under his weight quickly before kneeing him in the ribs. She'd been expecting him to let go of her, for there to be a fight, but he surprised her by angrily moving the fabric of her shirt out of the way before biting down on her shoulder. Her first mistake had been telling Eric that Four had been there with her when he had not, her second mistake happened when she'd tried to escape from him. He didn't like the way she so easily avoided the questions that burned in his mind, and how she effortlessly made his blood boil without even trying.

The way Eric was biting, and sucking on her skin made Reeve realize how gentle he had been with her the night before. The way his teeth sunk into her skin every few seconds made her shiver, and writhe beneath his form. His free hand moved up the side of her shirt before slipping beneath the fabric, she gasped at the feeling of his rough hands on her stomach.

"Get off me!" She huffed, trying to regain her composure.

Eric responded by dragging his tongue up the side of her neck before revisiting the mark from yesterday, it was sore, and made Reeve groan ever so softly in pain when he took the skin between his teeth. She hated this, to feel so helpless beneath someone who was only trying to mess with her. As far as Reeve understood of Eric, the man's only aim was to pick on her until she reacted in a way that was entertaining to him. It was frustrating, and Reeve pushed her form to thrash against him, to which Eric responded by moving his hand further up her form.

He couldn't stand it, that Four had been with her when he had not. Perhaps he had been the one to protect her from the person who had hit her. Maybe she had been trying to rile him up or simply made the comment as if to get back at him for the night before, though it had only succeeded in pissing him off. Had Four not seen the mark on her neck? One wasn't enough apparently, he had to give her another. To take that smooth skin back into his mouth, and feel her squirm against his body, he'd have to listen to her growl, and whimper beneath his form.

Soon enough Eric found himself distracted from his previous objective; the way she had spoken to him trying to prove that she wasn't affected made him anxious. Licking his way up to her old mark, Eric relished the small noise of protest that she made as he closed his mouth on it once more. He had to give her some credit for continuing to revolt against him, but at the same time he was tired of her fighting back. Moving his hand up slowly all movements by the red head stalled, as she took the hand on her lower back into account.

Finally when he was satisfied Eric moved away from her neck to look down at her, what he saw made his breath catch in his throat like a lump of bread. Her cheeks were almost as red as her hair, her lips were parted slightly as she let a small growl roll off her tongue when she saw that he was looking at her. Although the expression in her eyes was clearly as pissed off as he had ever seen her there was something else that he'd not seen in her before. A dark urge swept within Eric as he looked down at her, whatever he had been thinking at the start of this was gone, and all he could think about was how much he wanted to devour the woman beneath him.

"Are you done?" She seethed, trying to pull her arms free.

Eric had to marvel at the way she was still able to pull upon her anger so easily, one moment she was twisting beneath his form bitterly, and the next she was glaring up at him darkly. Though there was one thing that betrayed her, and spurred the young leader on all the more, the very first thing he'd been oh so surprised to see. Even after mustering up enough rage to spit fire at him there were still traces of crimson dusted across her cheeks, and that alone was enough to keep him going.

"Reeve, are you in here?" The redhead recognized Tris' voice almost immediately. Eric turned to see who would dare to interrupt them, and wasn't expecting the girl underneath him to take the opportunity so quickly.

As soon as she saw that Eric was distracted Reeve took the chance, and thrust her head forward until she felt it connect with someone else's. The leader lurched backwards upon impact, he released Reeve who wasted no time in pulling herself to her feet, swaying slightly, and stomping away from him ferociously. He wanted to be angry at her, for seeing such a weakness that he hadn't even thought about, for the blood that had begun to trickle out of his nose, or even for defying him so valiantly until the last moment.

Yet he couldn't help but feel anticipation, and confusion building within himself. There was a moment that'd he'd lost himself to the feeling of her form beneath his own. When he'd finished, and leaned back to look at his work something inside of him twitched anxiously, urging him to continue. It was odd, because in the beginning all he had wanted was to get Reeve to react to him, if only to see her angry or catch the traces of a smirk. How had his objective changed so quickly? Now all he wanted to do was pin her against something, make her writhe, and twist beneath his form. It was curious, the thoughts that he was having, but he couldn't stop himself, not when his hand was still warm from her skin.

Reeve spoke briefly with her friend before the other transfer turned to lead the red head away, she glanced backwards to see Eric still sitting on the ground, looking at her with a devilish smirk on his face. He was going to have fun breaking her.

"Are you okay?" Tris questioned, glancing at her frazzled companion.

"Yeah, just ran into the wrong person," she muttered bitterly.

"Did your brother come today?" She asked, after seeing her split lip.

After they hadn't seen the girl at lunch there was a bit of speculation that went on within their group of friends. Al helped clear it up slightly by saying that he had seen the girl getting pulled away by a man who had a younger girl with him. They berated him slightly on why he hadn't investigated further, he dodged their accusations until Four interrupted them by sitting down next to Tris. He muttered something about a crazy girl throwing knives in the training room before ignoring them for the rest of the meal. Christina and Will tried to get an answer from her, but Tris kept it to herself. If Reeve had been with her brother there was a good chance she wouldn't want to see everyone right away. Mostly because Tris was sure that she barely tolerated them as it was already, sometimes when they asked her questions during meals she wouldn't even glance their way.

What Tris hadn't been expecting to see was Eric sitting on the ground behind her friend when she walked further into the training room. From the way that he was looking after Reeve Tris worried slightly for what might happen to her red headed companion next, obviously the man was not good company.

"Did he hit you?" She questioned, looking at the marks on her neck.

"Yeah, but I got him back," she seethed, remembering her brother's bloody grin.

"Eric did?" Tris looked a little angry, and shocked.

"No, my brother," Reeve looked at her strangely, "He doesn't-," she stopped herself short.

Out of all the time Eric had decided to mess with Reeve he'd never actually hit her, not like her brother did anyway. For a long time she had been comparing him to her older brother who was cruel, and didn't hesitate to hurt her when he had the chance. But Eric had never slapped her, or even drawn blood; somehow she had missed that with the way he was always moving to restrain her. What did that mean then? She knew that he wanted to bother her, to see how she would react, yet the easiest way to see her expression would be for him to harmed her, and he hadn't done that.

Reeve reached for her neck subconsciously. Why had he been so articulate with biting at her neck in the first place? It was confusing, because with the way Eric treated her she couldn't imagine that he could like her, not the way she assumed relationships were supposed to work anyway. All she could think about at the moment was the tight grip he had on her wrists, and the way his hard chest had felt pressed up against her body. It made her blush darkly, and wonder what the heck was wrong with her head in the first place.

"Are you okay?" Her friend questioned, when she saw her cheeks redden.

"Just pissed off," Reeve snarled, trying to erase the images from her mind. "I thought I would feel better after finally beating him up," she muttered. Finally starting to rid her mind of the thoughts had been thrashing around inside her head for the past couple hours. "But I don't," she seethed. Tris didn't know what to say. What she had been through back in Erudite, she couldn't relate to the girl at all, and felt that trying would be embarrassing for both of them.

"Will some cake cheer you up?" Was the best that Tris could offer.

"Doesn't hurt to try," her voice was bland.

Cake did not help. Not when her friends wanted to know where she had been, what happened with her brother, did she see her sister, and what the heck happened to her neck? She wanted another bandana to hide it, and even then she could imagine Eric's smug face when he saw that she was trying to cover up what he had given her. To see that it bothered her enough to cover it up would make him grin wide enough to split his face open.

She didn't answer their questions, and elected to keep quiet, adopting a ticked off face in order to ward off more questions. Even going to bed early that night just to get away from people giving her questioning looks.

What bugged her the most, even more than the bloody smile that her brother had offered her, was the look of anticipation that Eric had when she glanced back at him. She'd wanted him to look pissed off, bitter, and resentful. He hadn't looked like that at all! Not when she had gotten the better of him, or even when she caused his nose to bleed. If anything the man looked excited. He too grinned like her brother had, but this time she couldn't see the similarities. The expression he had given her made Reeve tremble, because usually she was pretty good at guessing what people were going to do next, they were all so predictable, even Eric had been so easy to read at first. Now, she had no idea what was going to happen next.

**.**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Word of the chapter, relish. Each time I wrote that word the only thing that came to my mind was pickles, nasty pickles that only taste good in deviled eggs. <strong>

**What do you guys think will happen next? I'm thinking of building a friendship between Four and Reeve, because I feel like they could be close, like brother/sister type thing.**

**Also, poll time. Should Reeve be Divergent, or something else, because I can write it either way. Tell me in a review.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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